


Fuck You, Jack Morrison

by Unholy_Author



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: A/B/O, ABO, Angst, Comfort, Eventual Fluff, Fake Science, Is that going to stop me from starting a new one?, Jealousy, M/M, Omega!Jack, Should I finish my other series?, Soldier Enhancement Program, True Mates, Update tags as I go, alpha!gabe, no, smut?, yes - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-09
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-08-20 11:46:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 54,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8247616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unholy_Author/pseuds/Unholy_Author
Summary: Gabriel Reyes is an alpha going into an exclusive and highly-secretive experimental program. He just wants to get through it and get his job done, so what happens when he's told to room with Jack, a man no one can seem to dislike and who Gabe seems to be oddly attracted to?





	1. A Peculiar Scent

**Author's Note:**

> Dear lord do I love ABO and Reaper76. Tell me what you think and don't forget that I love prompts!

Gabe stood with a straight back and eyes forward, not focused on the person that paced in front of him and the dozen other soldiers standing in a row on either side of Gabe. They all reeked of alpha hormones, putting him on edge.

“You have been selected from military training programs across the country for this program. You have each signed your waivers and contracts, and from this moment on you belong to me.” Gabe tuned her out after that. It was a bunch of bullshit that got spouted at every new camp, fort, and squad that Gabe had been in during his short military service. It was nothing new.

“Every three days you will be given assessments and lab work will be done on you. At the discretion of the doctors you will be injected with whatever shit they want to put in you. You will not complain, you will not argue, and you sure as shit aren’t going to bitch to me about it. You’ll be given a roommate and you’re in charge of making sure they don’t die. If you think something’s wrong get the damn doctors.” The woman growled. Gabe vaguely wondered if the doctors were alphas too. It would be a huge mistake to put omegas in with this many alphas but betas would be alright.

His thoughts were cut off by a low growl to his left.

“Who the fuck are you that I should be listening to you?” A woman growled, alpha pheromones pouring off of her in thick waves. She was obviously used to being able to intimidate anyone she met. It wasn’t going to work this time and she didn’t seem to realize that until the woman in charge lunged, hand closing around her throat and teeth bared.

“My name is Commander Cho and I am the one that owns your fucking hide. If you disobey me I’ll rip this away from you and kick you out of the military so fast your fucking head will spin.” The woman snarled. Gabe didn’t smell any fear but the woman that had spoken up fell silent with only a faint growl to show her displeasure at being dominated.

“Get to your rooms. You’re all seeing the doctors and getting put on schedules tomorrow.” Commander Cho snapped, clearly tired of dealing with the group.

“Yes, Commander.” Came the unanimous reply. They may all be alphas, but they were also all soldiers and knew what was expected of them. Commander Cho shot them all a mildly disgusted look before sweeping out and Gabe relaxed immediately. The rest of the group broke apart and began murmuring to each other, making introductions that Gabe didn’t really care for. He just wanted to get the job done.

With that in Mind Gabe stalked down the hall where all the bedrooms were, peering at each door and checking for his name. At last he found it, the second to last room, number five. His name was right under ‘Jack Morrison’ and he wondered briefly who this other person was before deciding he didn’t care. He opened the door and took stock of what was to become his home for the next several months.

It was simple and Spartan, like every other military barrack he’d been in, if significantly more private. There was a bunk bed shoved against the left wall and a dresser with two drawers, each already labeled with a name written on masking tape and hastily slapped on the cheap wood. A brief glance inside showed Gabe that his drawer held standard issue clothes in his size and he could see two extra pairs of boots in one corner, in two different sizes. There was another door in the room that a little exploration told him was a small bathroom that only held a toilet, a sink, and a shower that was barely big enough for one person. They’d already been informed that there were communal showers off of the gym that they would be able to use as well. Somehow, he imagined that he'd spend a lot of time with those other showers.

“You must be Gabriel Reyes.” A smooth voice said from behind him. Gabe turned and did a quick once-over of the new man in the room. He was blonde and a little taller than Gabe, more athletically built than muscular. Gabe quickly dismissed him as any sort of threat.

“No shit. Call me Gabe.” Jack looked startled for a moment before letting out a light laugh.

“I’m Jack. It’s nice to meet you.” He said, holding out a hand to shake. Gabe obliged him and his eyes narrowed when he saw the inside of his wrist. There was a mostly transparent sticker, about the size of a postage stamp, stuck on the tender skin over his scent gland.

“Why are you wearing scent suppressors?” Gabe asked curiously. Jack stiffened and retracted his hand.

“Because I don’t like clogging the air with my smell, what’s it matter to you?” Jack asked with a slight snarl. Gabe snapped his teeth together by reflex, reacting to the tone the other had used. Jack’s eyes widened and he held his hands up, like he was warding off the argument.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. Sorry. I just wear them.” Jack said more diplomatically. Gabe eyed him a bit suspiciously before deciding it wasn’t worth a fight on the first day. He did, however, sniff the air deeply and found that he could barely smell the other man. He must have been wearing suppressors on all six of his scent points.

“Whatever. Just don’t fuck with me and we’ll be fine. I’m taking the bottom bunk, by the way.” He added as an afterthought. Jack shrugged and started poking around in his drawer, exploring the room.

“I’m fine with that. Although, you don’t really strike me as a bottom.” Jack joked with another laugh. Gabe froze and his spine stiffened slightly. What the fuck was wrong with him? He shook it off and gave another glance around the room.

“Do you remember when dinner is?” Jack asked as he stepped into the bathroom.

“All I know is that they’re feeding us three meals a day, which means three MREs. I fucking hate MREs.” Gabe grumbled unhappily.

“Don’t get all worked up over it. Snap some teeth and growl a bit and I’m sure they’ll throw an apple at you.” Jack said with a cheeky grin.

“Oh fuck off, blondie.” Gabe retorted. Jack gave an exaggerated eye roll.

“That was super creative. Really, I’ve never heard that before.” He said with overly wide eyes to mimic sincerity.

“Hijo de puta.” Gabe said with a shake of his head.

“Hey, what did you just call me?” Jack asked, brow furrowing.

“I just said that you seem like a wonderful person.” Gabe said with a vicious smile.

“Don’t fuck with me.” Jack replied, throwing Gabe’s own words back at him. Jack squinted at him, trying to hide the dry humor in his voice.

“I think I want a new roommate. I don’t trust you to not let me die for your own amusement.”

“I can’t let you die. They’d kick me out.” Gabe replied, equally dry. Jack rolled his eyes.

“I’m so glad to know that my welfare means so much to you.”

“Oh blow it up your ass. Where’re you from, anyway? You sound like you’re from the Midwest.”

“Indiana.” Jack confirmed with a nod. “What about you?”

“Texas.”

“Oh, one of the other alphas is from Texas, too.” Jack said without hesitation. Gabe raised an eyebrow with slight suspicion.

“How do you know that?”

“Some of us TALKED on the ride from the airport instead of baring our teeth at anyone that came within ten feet of us.” Jack said with a small smirk.

“I don’t deal with people posturing to prove their dominance. It’s bullshit, especially since I could dominate all of you and they don’t even know it.” Gabe said with no small amount of confidence.

“Be careful saying stuff like that, I know some alphas that like a feisty omega.”

“I’m no omega. Hell, with the ridiculous prejudice these people have against betas and omegas I doubt anyone that wasn’t an alpha was even considered.” Gabe snorted with disgust.”

“You sound skeptical.” Jack said slowly, carefully. Gabe narrowed his eyes at him.

“I swear to fucking god if you’re one of THOSE alphas…” Gabe trailed off threateningly.

“Oh, god no!” Jack laughed. “I just know that most military alphas think omegas are weak, I kind of figured you’d be the same.” Gabe stiffened and his mouth turned down into a frown.

“What the hell?”

“I didn’t mean you seem like that! I just assumed everyone would be.” Jack took a deep breath and tilted his head, giving a small but beautiful smile. “Hi, my name’s Jack and I eat my words a lot.”

Gabe felt his heart stutter in his chest and he wanted nothing more than to smile back at the other man. He couldn’t help but think about what Jack would smell like without the scent suppressors. A ridiculous thought, he knew, but he couldn’t stop it.

“Fuck off, Indiana.” Gabe growled, alarmed by his own thoughts. He was NOT getting all worked up over another fucking alpha. His rut wasn’t scheduled for another three weeks, but maybe it was coming early. That would explain his sudden inability to control his own emotions, if nothing else.

“I’d rather not, if it’s all the same to you.” Jack replied mildly as he gave an absent scratch at the side of his neck, revealing another clear scent suppressor.

“How many of those do you have? Because we’re going to be here for months.” Gabe pointed out, gesturing slightly to the suppressors.

“Oh, I’ve just got enough for the week but the doctors will give me more.” Jack said before freezing. Gabe raised an eyebrow.

“Why would the docs care if you’ve got suppressors?” Gabe asked a bit slowly. “You sick?”

“Ah, it’s not important.” Jack replied, waving a hand dismissively. Gabe took a moment to weigh his options, the benefit of pushing it or leaving it be.

“I don’t care.” Gabe finally said. It wasn’t any of his business, after all. Maybe the doctors wanted to test the drugs on someone sick, who knew? As long as Gabe could do his job he’d be fine.

Suddenly there were two short, high pitched beeps that seemed to come from a small speaker in the ceiling as well as from the hall outside their room.

“Ah, dinner. Let’s hope it’s not MREs, hm?” Jack said as he shot a toothy grin at Gabe. He just grunted in return to the bad joke.

Gabe stepped out into the hall with Jack behind him and made his way to the dining room they’d been shown during the brief tour. It was set up like every mess hall Gabe had been in, if a bit smaller. There were two long tables that could each have seated all of the dozen or so soldiers. There were two people dressed in fatigues standing by rolling carts and as Gabe walked in they slid open the sides, revealing plates of food.

Gabe’s stomach growled at the smell and Jack chuckled, going forward to take one of the plates.

“Hungry?” He asked sarcastically. Gabe shot him a withering glare as he got his own food and sat down at the very end of one of the tables. He felt a bit smug when Jack sat across from him, but had absolutely no idea why. He was also very happy to note that they were not being fed MREs.

On his plate there was a perfect scoop of mashed potatoes flecked with onion, with a small indent filled with brown gravy on the top. There was also some sort of pasta dish that seemed to be held together by copious amounts of cheese and red sauce, several lumps of meat on top. Shoved up right next to these was a bowl of pineapple chunks. All in all it was a fantastic dinner by army standards.

More of the soldiers began coming in and taking their food, breaking into small groups to eat. The chatter that had sprung up was cut off when one of the people in fatigues, she smelled like a Beta, cleared her throat.

“After you see the doctors tomorrow you’ll each be given individualized meals. You’re asked not to share these meals with one another as they are each created with your specific needs and experiment routes in mind.” She explained. “When you’re done simply leave your plates and silverware on the tables. We will clear them in an hour.” With that both her and the man with her left down the hall, allowing the soldiers to start speaking with each other again.

“This is a hell of a lot better than whatever shit they were serving us at Fort Wayne.” Jack said as he swirled his gravy into his potatoes. Gabe grunted his agreement as he took a small scoop from the side of the mound and dipped it in the gravy before trying it. It was delicious. He really wanted a bottle of hot sauce, though.

“If this is what they’re serving us I may put in a request to stay for a few years.” A woman joked at the other table.

“We haven’t even gotten to the ‘work’ part of this gig, I’d hold off on the requests if I were you.” Another woman advised. Gabe silently agreed with her. If they were getting this many perks and liberties it had to come with a steep price. There was a reason only the top soldiers in the country were accepted and he had a feeling it wasn’t to eat food and get lazy.

“You’re not eating the pasta.” Jack noted when Gabe finished his potatoes and had moved on to carefully eating the meatballs without getting any of the pasta beneath them.

“I’m lactose intolerant.” Gabe informed him as he scraped off a bit of cheese on one of the meatballs.

“Oh, I guess that would certainly make you avoid it, then.” Jack said with a curious tilt of his head. 

“Give Indiana a prize.” Gabe said sarcastically as he bit into another meatball. “I’ll give you my pasta for your pineapple.” Jack immediately slid his bowl of fruit across the table and Gabe scooted his plate forward a bit so Jack could reach the pasta.

“My name is Morrison. Or Jack, since we’re supposed to be close.” The blond said with a small frown.

“And yet I don’t care.” Gabe informed him.

“Hey, Reyes, right?” A woman said, sitting down next to Gabe. He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow. It was the same woman that had challenged Commander Cho earlier.

“Yea.” Gabe said as he started on the pineapple.

“I’m Gonzales.” She introduced, holding out a hand.

“Why should I give a fuck?” Gabe asked, ignoring the hand entirely. She let her hand fall to her lap and her eyebrows crinkled as she opened her mouth to speak.

“Oh, sorry about him. He’s prickly but nice. I’m Morrison, it’s nice to meet you.” Jack interrupted, offering her a hand and a brilliant smile. She relaxed instantly and Gabe bit back a growl he didn’t quite understand.

“That’s alright. We’re all a bit wound up because of how many other alphas there are. You seem like you’re the calmest out of all of us.” She said, shaking his hand.

“Not all of us try to challenge our commanding officer.” Gabe said with dry humor.

“Yea, not my best moment. My rut’s coming up and I’m getting antsy.”

“Damn, I’d hate to see what happens when someone actually challenges you.” Jack laughed. 

“Well, you must have done some dumb shit before your rut before.” Gonzales said. “I’m sure it’s not just me.”

“Oh, it’s not. I put one of my old platoon-mates in the infirmary the day before my rut hit because he used my soap.” Gabe said with a deep laugh. Jack looked at him with an amused little smile, posture completely relaxed.

“So I should avoid your soap, I take it?” He asked. Gabe sighed and rolled his wrist slightly.

“They didn’t let me bring my soap. Something about ‘outside variables’ or some shit.” Gabe grumbled unhappily.

“I’m sure they’ll let you get your soap. Let me guess, rose scented?” Gonzales joked. Gabe bared his teeth and let out a half-hearted growl. Instantly her eyes narrowed and her own teeth were bared as well. A second later she stopped and blinked before going sheepish.

“Sorry.”

“Fuck, you need to go into containment or get some inhibitors before you start everyone else’s ruts too.” Gabe growled, feeling a twinge in his gut at the amount of scent pouring off of her. It was thick and faintly musky, making Gabe feel a ridiculous urge to challenge her dominance.

“They’re giving me inhibitors tomorrow and putting me in containment the day after our initial reviews are done.” She said.

“Lord have mercy on us if you start someone else’s.” A man at the other table laughed.

“You’d be more likely to have a heat than a rut, Johnson.” A woman countered.

“Yea, yea very funny.” He murmured as the room burst into laughter.

They stayed like that for a while and Gabe actually found himself enjoying the company of the other soldiers. He was introduced to Gonzales, Johnson, Peters, Basara, Black, Weiss, Tully, Harding, Ingleberg, and Lister. While Gabe knew that he’d forget most of their names overnight it was still nice that they took the time to do it. The betas came back and cleared away their plates and that seemed to be the signal for everyone to go back to their rooms. 

Gabe and Jack started walking back to their room and Jack gently shoved Gabe with his shoulder, a wide grin on his face.

“That was fun, huh? You finally talking to people?” Gabe looked at him and snorted.

“You’re such a fucking boy scout, Indiana.”

“I thought I told you that wasn’t my name.” Jack replied without any bite or any fading of his smile.

“I thought I told you I don’t care.” Jack just hummed to that and followed Gabe into their room. “I’m showering first.” Gabe announced as he grabbed clothes from his drawer and disappeared into the bathroom.

Jack watched the closed door for a moment before letting out a breath. Holy hell, this day had been exhausting. He scratched at his neck and cringed when he partially pulled up the suppressor on that side. He wasn’t used to wearing them and kept forgetting they were on. He’d had to get them when he’d been given his new assignment in the Soldier Enhancement Program, the SEP. The assignment had startled him despite all of his qualifications and outstanding field record because, after all, it was full of alphas. 

And Jack Morrison was an omega.

Jack shoved off his boots and put them by his extra pair, gathering up sleep clothes in preparation for when the bathroom was free. He’d need to remember to change his suppressors after he showered. Especially with Gonzales so close to her rut, Jack would have to be extra careful about keeping his scent under check. He’d hate to make it any worse for her.

“Shower’s free.” Gabe announced as he stepped back into the bedroom, water dripping from his hair onto his bare shoulders has he had apparently opted to just wear the sleep pants and not the top he’d been provided. Jack’s mouth went dry and his voice went a bit breathy as he replied.

“Thanks.” He said, clearing his throat. Gabe raised an eyebrow.

“You alright, Indiana?” He asked.

“Peachy.” Jack replied before retreating to the bathroom and shutting the door firmly behind him. He pressed his back against the door for a moment and took a deep, calming breath.

What was WRONG with him? He was acting like an infatuated school kid with their first crush. But goddammit he was a fully grown twenty three year old man and there was no way he would start acting any different after knowing someone for less than a full day.

“Fuck.” Jack whispered before collecting himself a bit and stripping. He peeled off his suppressors and tossed them in the trashcan beneath the sink before taking the quickest shower of his life, sighing, and putting new ones on. It still took him a moment to get them on all six scent points but he’d been assured it would get easier the longer he did it. Jack changed into the provided grey tank top and black sweats, throwing his dirty clothes in the hamper on top of Gabe’s. Then he padded back to the bedroom and paused. Gabe was already knocked out on the bottom bunk, sprawled haphazardly with one arm thrown off the side of the bunk and the other over his eyes. Jack smirked slightly and silently turned off the lights before climbing the short ladder up to his own bunk and laying down.

He’d had a long day and needed a long rest to make up for it.


	2. Unnecessarily Silly Weapons

“Oi, what the fuck?” Gabe shouted as he flew into a sitting position, fully prepared to spring out of bed and punch somebody in the face.

“Fuck!” He heard above him, signaling that he wasn’t the only one upset about the rude awakening. There was a loud, obnoxious beeping sound coming from the speaker in their ceiling and there were several moments of confusion before it finally stopped.

“All subjects report to the mess for breakfast and assignments.” Came a thin, nasally voice. The message was not repeated and it was obvious they were expected to comply immediately.

“Ah hell.” Jack groaned from his bunk. Gabe swung his legs over the side of the bed and put his face in his hands. He heard the bed creak above him and then the sound of Jack climbing down.

“I call the bathroom first.” Jack announced. Gabe raised his head and watched with slight amusement as Jack rooted through his drawer for clothes. He pulled some out triumphantly and stumbled into the small bathroom, still half asleep. Gabe let himself smirk for a moment before getting his own clothes and quickly changing while the other man was still behind the door. He needed to piss badly and when Jack came out several minutes later Gabe went in and practically slammed the door behind him.

“Hurry up, I’m hungry.” Jack said from the other side of the door as Gabe washed his hands with the cheap bar of soap they’d been provided.

“You could go without me.” Gabe informed him dryly, wiping his hands on the front of his loose grey tee to get rid of the water droplets.

“Ah, that’s no fun.” Jack replied, smile clear in his voice. Gabe sighed but felt the ghost of a smile touch his lips. If Jack wasn’t an alpha and wasn’t working with him, Gabe would be sorely tempted to flirt with him. Gabe scowled at his reflection. There was absolutely no need to think about stuff like that.

“Come on.” Jack groaned. 

“You have zero patience.” Gabe said dryly as he opened the door and stared evenly at the blonde in front of him, who just grinned back.

“Just when it comes to food. If I don’t eat I turn into a complete monster.” Jack informed him. Gabe rolled his eyes and led the way out of the room with Jack close on his heels.

“What do you think they made for breakfast? I hope there’re grits.” Gabe looked at him incredulously.

“Grits are one of the nastiest things I have ever tasted.” Gabe said. Jack’s eyes widened.

“How dare you!” He replied, totally scandalized. “You just haven’t eaten them the right way. Nice big bowl of grits with butter, some jam, little bit of cinnamon, it’s the best thing ever.”

“You can have your grits, I’ll stick with normal food. Like eggs.”

“You can put eggs in grits.”

“Don’t you dare ruin eggs like that.” Gabe said seriously, pointing a stern finger at Jack. He just laughed brightly.

They were the last ones to get to the mess that morning and they were greeted with a chorus of ‘morning’ before taking their plates from the betas. There was a pitcher of orange juice being passed around as well and Gabe immediately filled a glass while Jack opted to go for the water instead.

“Dammit, no grits.” Jack murmured unhappily. Sure enough, their plates were piled with thick waffles, topped with some sort of strawberry syrup and strawberry chunks. There were strips of bacon on the side and Gabe cringed when he realized that one of them had been accidentally covered with the syrup.

“I’m so sorry.” Gabe said with fond sarcasm. Jack shot him a withering look and they sat down with Gonzales and Weiss.

“Hey guys.” Gonzales said. “These waffles are the shit, man.”

“I normally don’t even eat breakfast, but this could make me a believer.” Weiss added with a firm nod of his head.

“I have to eat three meals a day or I turn into a total bastard.” Jack said with a chuckle. Gabe didn’t say anything and instead opted for carefully pushing the syrup-covered bacon strip away from the rest of the pile. Jack noticed and raised an eyebrow.

“I know you’re not a vegetarian.” Jack said, the question clear.

“It’s got syrup on it.” Gabe replied.

“That’s the best way to eat it!” Weiss said. Gonzales looked at him like he’d sprouted a second head and furrowed her brow.

“What the hell? You do not put syrup on perfectly good bacon.” Gabe mumbled his agreement as he started to eat his own non-syrupy bacon.

“Here, hand me that one and I’ll trade you this one.” Jack said, offering up a dry piece of bacon from his own plate. Gabe willingly traded it for the one he didn’t want and Gonzales nudged his shoulder gently.

“White people are weird, man.”

“It got me bacon.” Gabe replied with a shrug. Weiss laughed and started cutting into his waffles without ceremony. Gabe did the same, carefully scraping off as much of the syrup as he could before eating each bite.

“You eat so weirdly.” Jack said, practically smothering his waffles in whatever syrup he could find, including the syrup on Gabe’s plate. He didn’t mind.

“I just don’t like things that are overly sweet.” Gabe said with a shrug.

“Aw, I’m sorry he doesn’t like you.” Weiss said to Jack.

“Oh shut up, I’m not overly sweet. I’m here because I’m a badass.” Jack countered, pointing his fork at Weiss threateningly.

“We’re all here because we’re badass. I just don’t believe you could actually get into a fight with someone. You’re probably a sniper, right?” Weiss asked casually. Gabe drained his orange juice but paused before he resumed eating, curious.

“I use a semi-automatic pulse rifle with helix rocket attachments, actually. I’m not a very good sniper, I can’t sit still for very long.”

“Holy shit.” Weiss laughed. “You use a fucking pulse rifle?”

“What about you guys?” Jack asked curiously. Gabe resumed eating and only half listened as they continued on with the conversation.

“I’m a pulse rifle, too. I don’t use a semi, though.” Weiss said.

“I’m a heavy explosives user.”

“What does that mean?” Jack asked, mouth half full of waffle.

“It means that if you give me literally anything I can either turn it into an explosive or blow it up. I’m damn good at causing lots of damage in a short period of time.”

“Not very subtle.” Weiss pointed out, to which she shrugged.

“What about you, Reyes?” Gonzales asked, propping her head up in one of her hands.

“Twin shotguns. Nothing too exciting.”

“How do you use two shotguns at the same time?” Weiss asked, a crease between his eyebrows.

“Carefully.”

“I bet that makes reload a bitch.” Jack said with a slight chuckle.

“You have no idea. It’s made me very good about making every shot count.”

“You know they make shotguns with clips you can use, I think they get up to sixteen shots instead of four.” Gonzales suggested.

“Too many shots.” Gabe said with a shake of his head. “The less I have the more cautious I am.”

“That’s dumb.” Wiess said with a frown.

“I think it’s a good idea.” Jack countered. Gabe shot him a smirk and Gonzales rolled her eyes.

“I swear, if you two were…” Whatever she was going to say was cut off by the betas coming back and one of them whistling loudly to get everybody’s attention.

“Alright, the doctors are ready to see you all now. Just leave the dishes and follow me, please.” The man said, waiting for the soldiers to stand and actually start to follow him while the woman started gathering dishes.

“I guess it’s time to earn our pay, boys.” One of the other women, Lister, said with a sigh.

“It can’t be all that bad. Who knows, it might be fun.” Weiss retorted with an overly dramatic stretch.

~~~~~

It was not fun. They were hooked up to machines, had blood drawn, underwent random tests that no one but the doctors understood, and overall were miserable.

“You look like you’re going to be sick.” Gabe said to Ingleberg.

“I don’t do needles, man. Needles and clowns freak me the fuck out.” Ingleberg said without opening his tightly shut eyes, voice tense.

“It’s just a few more moments.” The nurse with a needle in his arm reassured him.

“That doesn’t mean jack shit to me right now.” He replied without bite. There was a snarl to the left and Gabe’s head whipped around to see Gonzales baring her teeth at one of the doctors.

“I’m just taking samples from your scent gland, okay? I just need you to hold still for a second.”

“You stay the fuck away from my neck.” Gonzales growled. Gabe could smell her scent, intense and almost overwhelming. A growl rose up in his throat in response and the nurse taking his blood pressure froze.

“I don’t need to use the ones on your neck, your wrists will work just as well.” The doctor said with a slow, carefully even tone to his voice. He smelled like a beta, so he wouldn’t set Gonzales off as easily as an omega or alpha would but he still needed to be careful.

“Fine.” Gonzales snapped, holding out her left wrist. The doctor slowly swabbed the skin and put it in a little plastic tube, capping it.

“There. All done with that bit.” He said. The relief was tangible in the air. Gabe let out another low growl and the nurse looked up at him, worried.

“Reyes, you’re freaking the poor woman out.” Jack said mildly from a few seats away where another doctor was stopping up a vial of his blood.

“I don’t know how you’re so calm.” Gabe replied. He felt like there were ants underneath his skin and marching along his bones. Jack, on the other hand, looked composed and certain.

“I’m just not as hormonal as you idiots.” Jack said with a friendly grin.

“I bet you won’t be able to say the same thing when you’re close to your rut.” Gabe told him absently. “Ow, shit.” He suddenly said, looking down at the nurse.

“Stop squirming.” She dead panned, taking out the needle and sliding it in again. Jack laughed at him and Gabe made a face.

It took them almost half an hour to get everyone’s tests completely done, and by then Commander Cho was leaning against the door of the med bay and watching all of them with an even gaze.

“Are you done?” She asked one of the doctors.

“Yes, they’re all set.” The doctor replied, looking over something on her clipboard.

“Good, I’m taking them then.” She raised her voice then and clapped her hands together. “Come on, it’s time to see if any of you are actually good at your jobs.”

“Yes, Commander.” Came the reply, all of the soldiers standing and following her out of the med bay and down the hall. Commander Cho paused outside a locked door and held her thumb over a little scanner, making the door beep and unlock.

“This is the training room. You’re encouraged to use it and all you have to do is scan your left thumb. There’s a log that lets me see who’s been in and out so if your performance starts to drop training hours will be required. If it continues to drop and there’s no medical reason provided to me you will be kicked out of the program, do you understand?”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Good, now get your asses in here. All of your weapons are racked on the wall. Gonzales, you will be allowed to make your explosives under close supervision. You just need to ask either me or one of the medical staff.” Cho added with a glance at the woman she meant. Gonzales nodded her understanding as they stepped in. 

They were deposited in a long, rectangular room with weapon racks lining the walls. The large variety was almost startling, ranging from a pair of glinting ice picks to multiple belts with what appeared to be grenades hanging from them. Gabe could easily guess which was Gonzales’s. He himself went straight for the large black shotguns and slung the ammo belt around his waist before hefting the guns in his hands. The familiar weight of the guns set him a bit at ease.

“I can’t wait for this.” Johnson said with a grin on his face. Gabe snorted but didn’t say anything. Jack nudged his shoulder lightly and grinned, tipping his head toward the eager soldier.

“Ten bucks says he fucks up somehow.” Jack whispered. Gabe watched the man carefully for a moment before nodding.

“I’ll take that bet.” He whispered back.

“Alright! Time for you fuckers to show me that you know what you’re doing.” Commander Cho snapped. “Go through that door and wait for my signal.”

Gabe didn’t really know what he expected to see but it wasn’t a huge room, at least four stories tall, filled with a fake city block. It was a stage, a simulation that looked like it had already been used dozens of times before. The buildings were riddled with bullet holes and burn marks while several dilapidated cars lay silent and empty on the road that surrounded the block.

“Holy shit.” Black breathed. The door shut behind them and suddenly Commander Cho’s voice seemed to boom through the entire space despite the fact that she wasn’t even there. Another speaker system, Gabe supposed.

“This is your chance to show me what you can do. There are no objectives, there is no goal, just you lot and however many bots I decide to send in. Don’t fuck up and don’t disappoint me.” She warned before the sound cut off.

“Wait, bots?” Someone asked, confusion clear in their voice.

“What does she mean?” Someone else asked. Gabe cursed and began running across the road in front of him toward the buildings.

“What? What is it?” Jack asked, sprinting after him without hesitation. Behind them Tully had run as well, towards a different part of the block.

“I’ve done this shit before. I’ll bet Tully’s the other one from Texas, yea?” He asked as he shoved Jack into the closest building. It looked like it was meant to be a two story book store.

“Yea, how did you know that?” Jack asked in return, following Gabe up the steps to the second floor. Gabe looked out the nearest window and could see the group of soldiers they’d left clearly.

“Because this is standard training in Texas. These bots are fucking tough as hell. I’ve seen them fuck people up.” The nine soldiers that had remained by the door suddenly started shouting and a few shot to their left.

“It’s starting.” Gabe said dryly. He ducked down beside the window and Jack peered out the window himself.

“Gonzales wasn’t kidding about the explosives.” Jack said, slight awe in his voice.

“Yes, fantastic.” Gabe said absently as he went to another window to look out of it. There was a bot in the building next to them on the third floor. It was moving past a window and Gabe ducked back before it could see him.

“Oh, they’re running now.” Jack continued. “Weiss rolled under a truck.”

“Look for the bots, Indiana.” Gabe growled.

“Well there aren’t any on this side. Or I can’t see them, at least.” Jack countered. He settled his gun on his shoulder and shifted his weight to one foot. The sound of explosions and gunfire filled the air. There was a metallic squeal from the floor below them and Gabe froze.

“Indiana, be quiet.” Gabe whispered. Instantly Jack fell silent, but he turned and looked at Gabe with a raised eyebrow. A moment passed and Gabe glanced at Jack.

“We’re supposed to be showing off, so I’m going to go show off.” He said with a manic grin. He thumped down the stairs without waiting for a reaction or response and the two bots on the lower floor turned to him. Wasting no time, Gabe launched himself forward and shoved the barrels of his guns into the chests of the bots, pulling the triggers simultaneously and blasting holes in the carapaces of the training bots.

“Fuck.” Jack said, peering down the stairs at the scene. “I’d say that was impressive but that seems like a bit of an understatement.”

“Careful, Indiana, I’ll think you’re falling for me.” Gabe joked with a wink before disappearing out of the building, leaving Jack to scramble after him with a flushed face. It was absolutely NOT because of the seemingly absent wink that Gabe had shot him.

Jack caught up with Gabe quickly and together they circled around the city block, shooting whatever happened their way. At one point they ended up getting chased by three of the bots, Gabe unable to reload while moving and Jack sure he wouldn’t be able to take them with just pulse rounds.

“Hold on, I’ve got this.” Jack panted, whirling with a slight jump so he was facing the bots but still moving in the same direction as Gabe. He shot off his helix rockets and the sheer power of the blast pushed Jack backward, throwing him onto his back and sending him skidding on the cement for a moment.

“Shit.” He groaned, the sound of clattering metal an accompaniment to his pain. Gabe paused and looked down at him with wide eyes.

“Damn, don’t do that in the middle of a fight. Knocked you flat on your ass.”

“Yea, one time I accidentally blew myself out of a window.” Jack admitted with an embarrassed grin as Gabe helped him up. “Luckily it was the ground floor.”

“You’re no lightweight, either. That thing must pack a hell of a punch.”

“Wanna try it?”

“Um, no thank you.” Gabe declined with a cringe. There were gun shots behind them and Gabe whirled, raising his guns only to see an ice pick hurled through the air to pierce the eye glass of a bot that had just rolled around the corner to shoot at the pair when they weren’t paying attention.

“You fuckers owe me.” Tully growled, stalking forward to wrench her ice pick from the metal of the bot.

“I don’t owe you shit.” Gabe snapped back. She grinned at him in a way that was almost vicious.

“I like you.” She said, pointing at him lightly with the tip of one of her picks.

“You’re not one of those alphas that go for other alphas, are you?” Jack asked, something he didn’t understand festering in the pit of his stomach and making his voice dark.

“Don’t ask about other people’s kinks. You’ll get answers you don’t want.” She told him before giving a small salute and walking off. Jack glowered after her for a moment before speaking.

“Lucky she was here.” He said.

“We could have handled it.” Gabe said confidently. “Come on, we’ve got more bots to blow up.”

~~~~~

The training session only lasted a few more minutes and by the standards Gabe and Jack had been held to, it was a walk in the park. The others obviously felt the same way because when Commander Cho called for them to meet back in the weapon’s room everyone was laughing and talking about trick shots or kills they’d done.

“Hey Johnson, how’d it go?” Jack asked innocently.

“Oh man, you should have seen me. There was this one bot coming around a corner, yea? And another one was at my four. So I drop down like this, swing my gun, shot the one at my four and go into a roll like this, come up on my feet and shoot the other one straight in the face.” Johnson said, animatedly showing off bits of the story he’d been telling.

“So…no fuck ups?” Gabe prodded.

“Not a single one. Though I did see Gonzales throw a grenade that bounced back at her.”

“It was one time.” Gonzales murmured unhappily as she took off the multiple belts she had around her chest and hips.

“You owe me ten dollars, Indiana.”

“Yea, yea.” He murmured before instantly stiffening his spine as Commander Cho stepped into the room.

“Well,” She said, silencing the room with the one word as she clasped her hands behind her back and began pacing a few steps back and forth. “, none of you are complete idiots, at least. You worked well, but you need to work together. Even those of you that stayed in groups worked alone.”

“As long as we get the job done, does it really matter how?” Peters asked curiously. She had a bit of oil smudged on her face.

“Because one day you’ll need to work as a team. It’s how armies and units function. As a group.” She paused and looked over each of the soldiers one by one, eyes barely touching on each person before moving to the next. “You’ve got a long way to go.” She sighed.


	3. A Bad Poker Face

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy Howdy, I'm sorry that it's been longer than usual for this update but I've just pushed out a major one shot so hopefully my schedule will get back on track.
> 
> As always, send me any prompts, AUs, or head cannons you want to see happen. If you want fic updates and teases follow me on tumblr at Caitninja!

Lunch was a very odd affair. With the knowledge that they would each, with the exception of Gonzales, begin their injections after the meal rumors and theories were wildly rampant. They varied from notions too ridiculous to truly consider all the way to ideas so horrifyingly creative that even thinking about them was a torturous experience. After the meal was over, everyone but Gonzales was led back to the med bay.

~~~~~

Jack and Gabe ended up sitting in seats next to each other as they got their first injections. They each received one syringe worth of clear liquid and were then told they would need to stay for thirty minutes for observations to make sure they weren’t going to experience any nasty side effects. The nurses walked away from the pair, murmuring to each other, and Jack turned to Gabe with a slight smile.

“That wasn’t so bad.” He said brightly. Gabe raised a single eyebrow.

“What were you expecting? It’s not like you’ve never gotten shots before.”

“Yea, but this is top secret stuff. I was expecting bubbling neon beakers and mind boggling science, not shots and gossiping nurses.” Jack replied with a slight head tilt toward the small group of nurses nearby. Gabe laughed loudly and a few of the other soldiers glanced at him curiously before going back to their own conversations.

“I’m sorry the experience disappointed you.” Gabe said with overly dramatic sympathy. Jack rolled his eyes.

“It’s not like I was expecting them to give us liquid metal or nitrogen dioxide or anything.”

“Just more bubbling.” Gabe said with a smirk.

“If you’re going to tease me I won’t tell you anything ever again.” Jack said with a dramatic frown.

“How mature.” Gabe replied, rolling his eyes. Lister laughed from Jack’s left.

“You guys fight like you’ve known each other forever.” She said, cupping her face in one hand while propping that elbow on the table next to her chair.

“I assure you it’s been two days just like it has been for everyone else.” Gabe said dryly before glancing at Lister a bit more closely. He frowned. “What are you wearing?” He asked her a bit incredulously. She frowned as well and glanced down at her outfit.

“The clothes they gave me.” She half said and half asked. She _was_ wearing the standard issue black pants and grey tee shirt but the pants were rolled up past her knees and the sleeves of the tee were tucked in. She’d apparently decided to customize it as best she could.

“That’s not your style or your color.” Gabe said with a scowl. Jack raised an eyebrow and Lister’s mouth opened ever so slightly, like she was trying to say something in response but couldn’t actually think of what it was.

“What?” Gabe finally asked, tired of watching her struggle to come up with something.

“Are you gay? Because you don’t strike me as someone that would know anything about fashion for fun.” Lister finally said.

“Yes, I’m gay. But that doesn’t have anything to do with fashion, idiot. My dad makes wedding dresses and I picked it up from him.” Gabe explained nonchalantly.

“Wait, I don’t understand what’s wrong with my outfit.” Lister said.

“Warm summer colors and athletic clothes or more flowy things would work best for your body type. The grey drains you and this style makes you seem smaller than you actually are.” Gabe told her matter-of-factly.

“Wow.” Jack murmured. Gabe glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. “You just don’t seem the type to know this stuff.” Jack explained quickly at the look on Gabe’s face.

“But I seemed the type to hate omegas? You should just accept that, whatever you think of me, I’m full of surprises.” Jack gave an embarrassed grin and Lister laughed a deep, full body laugh.

“I bet you’re chock full of them. Do you have a boyfriend or anything? Cause I have this cousin, he’s a beta, and I swear he’s a good guy but he hasn’t had a date in months. When we get out of here I’ll give you his number. Give him a call for me.” She said.

“What does he do for a living?” Gabe asked curiously. There was pressure building up behind his eyes. The beginnings of a headache, he supposed.

“He writes kids’ books.” Lister told him, bouncing her knee slightly as she spoke.

“I hear that’s a tough industry.” Jack said.

“Oh yea, he had to move to a different publishing house just recently because his first one cut their children’s department by eighty five percent.” She said with a nod.

“So now you’re trying to set him up with random dudes?” Jack asked her with a teasing smile.

“Lord knows he needs it. He’s so uptight, he needs to get laid.” The pressure Gabe had felt in his head grew into a sharp, throbbing pain just behind his eyes. He closed them tightly and laid his head against the back of his seat. It was a hell of a time to get a headache.

Lister and Jack continued talking to each other and Gabe tried to tune them out, tried not to see the light that burned through his eyelids, and tried to stop the pain. Headaches normally didn’t bother Gabe this much, he didn’t know what the problem was this time.

“Reyes, are you alright?” Someone asked. Gabe cracked open his eyes to glare at the nurse standing over him.

“I have a headache. If the thirty minutes are up I’d appreciate you saying so.” He said a bit snippily. He just wanted to leave.

“The headache could be a side effect, so I’d like to keep you here for observation.” The nurse said, typing something on the tablet in her hand.

“Are you serious?” Gabe growled. Lister let out a bark of a laugh and Gabe turned to glare at her. Jack looked concerned.

“Yes, I’m serious. You’re staying her for another thirty minutes and I’m going to give you some Tylenol. Are you feeling else unusual? Dry mouth, stomach ache, fatigue?”

“No, just the headache.” Gabe said, tipping his head back again. The nurse made a slight humming sound and quickly walked away with a promise of her return.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked. The other soldiers, with the exception of Black, were all starting to get up and move towards the exit. Black was apparently being kept for further observation as well.

“I’m fine. I’m not bleeding out, am I?” Gabe replied with a look in Jack’s direction.

“Just checking. Who knows what they pumped into us? Maybe you’re bleeding on the inside and we just can’t see it.”

“Unlikely, Mr. Morrison. The cocktail we’ve given Mr. Reyes should not have that side effect nor should it cause any permanent damage. This is most likely a mild reaction. It should clear up in the next hour.” A doctor said as she came over, the nurse from earlier in tow behind her.

“Great, can I leave? I’m not staying here for another half hour.” Gabe asked, taking the two white pills the nurse offered him and swallowing them dry.

“Yes. Drink water and if the headache persists for longer than a few hours come back and ask for Dr. Cho.” Gabe raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

“Dr. Cho, as in Commander Cho?”

“She’s my wife.” The doctor confirmed with a nod.

“Bet she’s a real hard ass at home.” Weiss murmured as he walked by on his way out.

“Don’t talk about my wife like that. I control who gets what meds.” Dr. Cho remarked evenly as she wrote something with the tip of her finger on the tablet the nurse held out for her. Jack laughed and the bright sound made Gabe smile, looking at him automatically.

“Thanks, Dr. Cho. I’ll let you know if anything happens. Now let’s get out of here, Indiana.”

“Alright, what do you want to do?” Jack asked as he stood with Gabe and they started to walk out of the med bay together with final waves to Dr. Cho and the nurse.

“Let’s check out the rec room. I bet we can find a deck of cards.” Gabe suggested.

“Do you know how to play poker?” Jack asked. Gabe looked at him incredulously.

“I’m from Texas, do you really think I don’t know how to play poker?” He asked. Jack laughed and bumped Gabe’s shoulder with his own.

“Is it true what they say about Texas?” Jack asked with a mischievous smile.

“People say a lot of things about Texas, you’ll have to be more specific.” Gabe retorted dryly.

“You know, that everything’s bigger in Texas.” Gabe paused in the middle of the hall and looked at Jack, who stopped right next to him. The eyebrow wiggle Jack gave Gabe made him burst out laughing and the deep sound reverberated through the hall. 

Gabe laughed until he was out of breath and had moisture clinging to the edges of his eyes and honestly Jack had never seen anything more gorgeous in his entire life than the brilliant grin the Hispanic man shot him as he got his breath back.

“Hombre,” Gabe said, laughter lingering in his voice, “, I can tell you with absolute certainty that, from cupcakes to dicks, not everything is bigger in Texas.”

 _You’re beautiful._ Is what Jack wanted to say as they started walking again. The words were on the tip of his tongue and he needed something else to say. Anything.

“What about corn?” _What the fuck?_

“Corn?” Gabe asked incredulously. “You’re asking me about corn?”

“I like corn.” Jack said, internally wincing.

“You’re something else, Indiana.” Gabe said, shaking his head even as he smiled.

“You know, you aren’t the first person to say that.” Jack told him. In fact, he’d been told that when he topped his unit in basic for weapons accuracy and mission success rates. He’d also been told that when he tried to assert dominance over an alpha. He’d been hearing that line since he was in grade school, now that he thought about it.

“Oi, Indiana.” Gabe said, snapping his fingers a few times. “Come back to me, hombre. You spaced out there.”

“Concerned?” Jack joked to disperse the strange awkwardness he’d let fall between them. Gabe snorted.

“Hardly. I can’t imagine you being very good at poker with such an open face.”

“You’ll see.” Jack replied smugly. “I’m a hell of a good cards player.”

~~~~~

As it turned out, Jack _was_ a very good poker player. But Gabe was still better. Jack lost three hands for every one that he won and while that would have left Gabe bitter Jack just laughed it off and seemed to be really enjoying himself as they played.

“Indiana, I don’t know who taught you to play poker but you flash me your hand every time you laugh.” Gabe advised, trying to keep a smile off his face as he saw two threes.

“I’m trying to help you, based on how this is going you need it.” Jack joked. He was losing quite badly at that point.

“I’ve heard you lose at least seven times, you need to help yourself.” Basara said from where she, Tully, and Weiss were playing Jenga. Weiss laughed and Tully smacked him.

“Hush, if he wants to throw the game let him throw it.” Tully said with a shrug. Jack frowned and looked down at his cards. To Gabe it looked like he was trying awfully hard not to say something.

“Shove it up your ass, Tully.” Gabe growled.

“Be careful, I might be into that.” She retorted without hesitation.

“He’s gay.” Basara said to Tully. “I heard him tell Lister in the med bay.”

“Well then maybe Weiss is into that.” Tully suggested. Jack snapped his teeth together with a loud _clack_ and everyone turned to look at him. Weiss raised an eyebrow.

“Bad hand?” He asked sarcastically.

“Yea, I’m folding.” Jack said a bit dryly, setting his cards down on the table and immediately walking out. Gabe furrowed his brow and looked at the door as Jack left.

“If you want to fuck find someone else.” Gabe growled to the three in the corner as he stacked the cards together and slid them back into the pack.

“Are you saying I can’t fuck him or you?” Tully asked.

“Tully, just fuck off already. It’s not funny.” He said, putting the cards back where he found them and sparing the group one last glare before following Jack out.

Jack wasn’t in their room or the kitchen. Gabe frowned and went to the gym, only to see Jack running on one of the treadmills, feet pounding into the belt with audible thumps.

“Why are you in here?” Gabe asked after a few moments where Jack pretended not to see him and Gabe watched him blankly.

“Running.” Jack said dryly. He was speaking easily despite the exercise. Gabe crossed his arms and shifted his weight slightly so he was more comfortable.

“Running is probably my least favorite thing to do.” Gabe admitted. Jack laughed and it turned into a slight wheeze as he continued to run. “Damn, Indiana. Don’t die.”

Gabe watched him for a few more moments before giving a slight wave.

“Whatever, I’m out. Have fun with your dumb running.” The sound of another wheezing laugh followed him into the hall and Gabe felt a bit better as he went back to their room.

~~~~~

Gabe didn’t see Jack again until dinner, where he showed up with his hair still dark and dripping from a recent shower. There was no hesitation as he sat down across from Gabe after taking his food and flashed a smile.

“Hey.” Jack said before immediately stirring his corn into the shredded pork in his sandwich. Gabe made a face and looked at Jack incredulously.

“A pork and corn sandwich? Really?”

“Not all of us are as much of a picky eater as you are.”

“I’m not picky.” Gabe retorted quickly.

“And I’m not blonde.” Jack said with a smile. Gabe scowled at him and tore his sandwich in half before taking a bite of it without answering.

“Yo, we good?” Tully asked Jack from the other table. He turned and looked her over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

“Why wouldn’t we be?” He asked curiously.

“You kind of freaked the fuck out and ran off earlier.” She said.

“Ah, sorry. I just…” Jack trailed off. Why _had_ he run off? There wasn’t really a good reason for it and he couldn’t come up with anything that sounded reasonable. “I think Gonzales is getting to me.” He settled for. Tully made an understanding hum and Gonzales flinched from where she was sitting with Lister, Basara, and Peters.

“I’m trying to keep it under control.” She growled. Jack felt his stomach clench uneasily at the sound. Gabe let out a low growl at the smell of discomfort rolling off of Jack and Gonzales snapped her head around to glare at him in response.

“You’re not controlling yourself very well.” Gabe noted, voice low.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gonzales asked. The sharp scent of anxiety and anticipation filled the air around the group like a haze. Basara had risen slightly from her seat and Weiss was clenching his fork so tightly his knuckles had gone white.

“It means that your pheromones are setting everyone on edge and you need to go to containment or find someone to fuck. Either way, don’t take it out on us. Don’t do anything you’ll regret after your rut is over.” Gabe advised. Hell, he’d done shit during his rut that he’d regretted later but Gonzales doing that dumb shit while in a military base full of other alphas would be a disaster. 

“I don’t fuck alphas and they’re putting me in containment right after dinner.” Gonzales hissed.

“Good.” Johnson said. Gonzales turned and lunged at him but Jack was there in anticipation of the action, trying to hold her back. Her elbow flew back and slammed into his mouth, bursting his lip. He reared back, hand flying to his bloody mouth and Gabe snarled. His pheromones flooded out of him and betrayed the intense rage that he felt. The scent of pure alpha fury made everyone in the room freeze and turn to look at him.

“I told you…not to do anything that you would regret.” Gabe said with a slow, calm voice that in no way indicated how angry he actually was. “Johnson, go get the doctors.” The other alpha left without a single word, presumably to do as Gabe had asked.

“Gonzales, you need to sit down, okay?” Jack said, touching her arm lightly and drawing her back to her chair.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry.” She said, one of her fingers lightly touching his broken bottom lip. He laughed and waved a hand dismissively.

“I’ve had worse.” Gabe watched them with a wary eye for a few moments before Johnson came back with Doctor Cho and another doctor in tow.

“Miss Gonzales, I’ve been informed that your rut has come on quicker than anticipated. Tell me, how long have you been in your rut?” Doctor Cho asked as she lifted first one, then the other eyelid so she could look at Gonzales’s eyes.

“A few hours, maybe. Not long. I thought I could stick it out until after dinner.”

“You were wrong. All of you listen to me. These chemicals and experiments we’re putting you through mean that your ruts or heats will be unpredictable so you need to tell us about everything. If you feel your rut or heat coming on early you need to inform us so we can get you in containment under observation.” The male doctor said. Doctor Cho glanced up at him briefly before leading Gonzales out and he followed them, leaving the group to the awkward silence that had fallen over the room.

“Well, that was fun.” Jack said brightly as he sat down and took another bite of his corn and pork sandwich.


	4. An Untimely Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! I'm sorry this one's a bit late, but I hope you enjoy it all the same!
> 
> To come yell at me about my chapters, message me or send me an ask at Caitninja on Tumblr.

“Okay, wait a minute, am I the only one that noticed him saying ruts _and_ heats?” Johnson asked after a moment of awkward silence punctuated only by the faint sound of Jack chewing.

“Am I the only one that noticed Reyes bring the entire room to heel?” Tully asked in return with a wary glance in his direction. She wasn’t the only one looking at him oddly. Gabe ignored them all as he sat back down at his place across from Jack.

“Are you alright?” He asked. Jack rolled his eyes and politely took a moment to swallow the food in his mouth before answering.

“Like I said before, I’ve had worse.” Jack replied. “I’m a soldier, you know. I’m not exactly delicate.”

“Yes, I’m vaguely aware of the fact.” Gabe said with a smirk.

“Guys, seriously, heats?” Johnson tried again. 

“Johnson, lay off. If someone’s a beta or omega and haven’t said anything by now they obviously don’t want us to know.” Weiss sighed as everyone started to settle back into their places to finish dinner. No one else seemed to pay much attention to Johnson’s concerns either.

Gabe glanced around the room and narrowed his eyes slightly. He’d noticed the implication that one of them was a beta or omega and was extremely curious as to who it was. Not that it would make any difference in how he felt about them, of course, but it could be an issue when their heat struck.

It obviously wasn’t Gonzales, and it wasn’t Gabe himself. Gabe took a subtle sniff and his brow furrowed. All he smelled was alpha, confusion, and anxiety. A beta’s more neutral smell would probably be swallowed up by the roiling scent but an omega would be easy to pick out. His eyes glanced over Jack and he paused. There were clear bits of plastic stuck on either side of his neck. The scent suppressors.

Even an omega’s scent would be smothered by those, if kept on all six glands. Jack _had_ mentioned that the doctors themselves were keeping him stocked with them, and what other reason would they have for doing that? It was to keep the order. Who knew what would happen if the others found out one of their own was an omega?

Gabe straightened his back ever so slightly with the realization as he watched Jack raise an eyebrow at him from across the table.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asked Gabe.

“Fine.” Jack gave him a sympathetic look and tilted his head slightly.

“Gonzales’s pheromones are getting to you too, huh? Oh man, is it kick-starting your rut?” Jack asked, suddenly much more worried. God, two alphas in a rut was the absolute last thing they needed.

“No, no. I’m just feeling a bit funny.” Gabe said as he broke apart some peach halves with his fork. _Is Jack an omega? What would prove it even if he was?_

“Doctor Cho said to come back to her if you felt odd.” Jack reminded him.

“If I still feel off tomorrow morning I’ll talk to her.” Gabe said, just to placate him. He had no intentions of seeing the doctors more than absolutely necessary. The next time they _had_ to go to would be in three days, unless the doctors called them back in for whatever reason.

“So, Reyes?” Tully asked slowly. He glanced up at her before looking back down at his food.

“What do you need?”

“How dominant _are_ you?” She asked as she sat down next to Jack across from Gabe.

“Dominant enough. Why?” He asked with a slight growl and a suspicious look in her direction.

“Well, I mean you could have just dominated the entire room. Are you okay? What was going on?”

“I’m fine. We needed to calm down and I knew how to make you all stop long enough for it to happen. There’s nothing to it.”

“Nothing to it? We’re all military trained alphas, it’s hard enough to dominate just one of us, but all twelve?”

“I’m not talking about this.” Gabe snapped suddenly, eyes narrowing as he looked at her. She held up her hands in surrender.

“Hey, I’m not trying to start anything.” She said. It sounded like she was going to follow that up with something but Jack interrupted her with a happy smile.

“Good. I’m sure Reyes has things he doesn’t want everyone to know, just like all of us. I don’t let people snoop through my underwear drawer so I don’t go snooping through theirs. Most people call it manners.” He said with a happy tone. There was a clear underlying warning to his words and that, paired with his use of Gabe’s last name, made the statement a bit jarring for both Tully and Gabe. Jack’s smile remained on his face as he went back to eating. Tully uneasily stood and her eyes slid to Gabe.

“Uh, yea. Sorry.” She said awkwardly. A heartbeat passed and she went to the other end of the second table, sitting as far away from the pair as possible.

“Damn.” Basara laughed from a few feet down the bench. “I haven’t seen anything that low-key salty since I made my kids apologize to each other for getting into a fist fight.”

“You have kids?” Gabe asked curiously.

“Sure do. Two little girls, twins.” Basara said fondly. “I’d show you a picture but, you know, they took my phone.”

“Man, that’s gotta be tough being away from them for this long. Are they staying with your mate?”

“It is really hard, but they offered me a lot of money to be here and my wife…” Basara paused and took a deep breath. “Marnie’s in a coma. Our girls are staying with her parents.”

“Oh, Basara I’m so sorry.” Gabe said, genuine sympathy in his voice. She smiled at him a bit sadly.

“Call me Kit, and it’s alright. It’s just that medical bills don’t pay themselves. This was the best opportunity I had to help us all out a bit.” 

“Kit Basara. Bit of an odd name.” Jack said with a small smile. She grinned back and pointed her fork at him.

“Well you’re white bread, so you wouldn’t understand. My biological parents were Middle Eastern and when I got adopted by Americans they kept my last name and just changed the first. I was too young to care anyway. I think I was six months old.” It was Gabe’s turn to laugh, then. Jack turned ever so slightly to glare at him playfully.

“If you start calling me white bread…” Jack trailed off threateningly. The tone was ruined by the obvious smile he was trying to hide.

“You’ll what? There’s no way to get me to shut my mouth. A whole string of ex boyfriends will tell you that.” Gabe laughed. Whatever reply may have come was cut off by the arrival of the betas to clear away the dining area.

“I guess that’s our cue.” Basara…Kit said as she stood. Jack and Gabe stood as well and the three of them walked back down to their rooms together, Kit giving a brief ‘good night’ before dipping into her room. Gabe and Jack were silent as they stepped into their room and Gabe immediately began kicking off his clothes, leaving on only his boxers.

“Hey Gabe, I just…oh!” Jack squeaked, whirling around to face the nearest wall as he cheeks burned red. Gabe straightened and shook his head as he went to the bathroom to toss his clothes in the, now empty, hamper.

“Yes?” Gabe asked. He sat on the edge of his bed and waited. Jack turned around slowly and his eyes instantly shot to the side to look at something, _anything_ , other than Gabe.

“I just wanted to say thank you. For calming everyone down when Gonzales went off. You didn’t need to do that.”

“You didn’t need to get Tully off my back.” Gabe countered with a shrug. Jack’s eyes finally met Gabe’s and Gabe felt himself straighten slightly with the seriousness on the other man’s face.

“I won’t ask about your dominance if you don’t ask about my scent blockers. I know that you know what they mean. I saw it on your face when you realized what I am.” Any remaining humor that Gabe had been feeling evaporated. He’d been right, then.

“I won’t tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Gabe assured him, tone equally serious.

“I know. But I don’t care. If they find out, they find out. But I want to prove myself to them first. If they find out now then I’ll turn into the butt of everyone’s jokes and the one they all turn to when they feel their ruts creeping in. I may be an omega, but I deserve to be here just as much as anybody else.” Jack said, voice going slightly louder the longer he was speaking. Gabe held up his hands defensively and raised both eyebrows.

“Hey, I’m not arguing with you. Despite the fact that your rockets can blast you onto your ass, nothing I’ve seen says that you don’t belong here.” Jack flushed again and looked up to the ceiling, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean that you’d…I didn’t…do you remember when I said I eat my words a lot?” Jack finally settled on with a light, self-depreciating laugh.

“I do, and I’ve noticed you only do that when you’re with me. I can fluster anyone.” Gabe added with a smile.

“Well that’s just because you’re hot.” Jack said as he started off toward the bathroom. He paused in the doorway and turned to look at Gabe. “Don’t look too deep into that.” He said before shooting Gabe a cocky grin and closing the bathroom door.

Gabe stared at the door for several long minutes and tried desperately to calm the fuck down. What was his _problem_? A compliment that Jack probably didn’t even mean and an absent smile. That’s all it had taken for Gabe to get flustered. God damn, he was _not_ some teenager daydreaming that they’d found their mate! He was a grown ass alpha doing a job and he was not going to let…whatever this was distract him.

Gabe groaned and fell backward onto the bed. He rolled over onto his side and curled one arm up under his head, facing the wall so that he wouldn’t have to see Jack again. He didn’t know what he’d say if they started talking again. He didn’t know what he wanted to say.

Gabe heard the bathroom door open and close again. A few seconds later the light turned out and then Gabe heard Jack climbing up to the top bunk. There were several seconds of the mattress groaning before a relative quiet fell over the room, the only sound their combined, soft breathing. For some odd reason listening to Jack’s breathing made it much easier for Gabe to fall asleep.

~~~~~

The alarm was much less startling that next morning. That is not to say that Gabe was any less ready to punch somebody in the face, but he was significantly less confused. Jack was not.

“Hnn!” He whined from the top bunk. Gabe sat up and shot an amused look at the bottom of Jack’s bunk.

“Get up, lazy bones.” Gabe laughed. He went to the drawers and picked through his to get clothes for the day. He was running short and really hoped the laundry would come back soon. Jack was still struggling to get out of bed so Gabe took the liberty of taking the bathroom first. It didn’t take long at all to relieve himself and get changed into fresh boxers and clothes. When Gabe popped the top of his toothpaste off, he wrinkled his nose. It smelled almost exceedingly strong. In fact, he could already feel a reactionary headache building around his temples. Gabe brushed his teeth as quickly as he could and then fled back to the other room.

“Does that toothpaste smell odd to you?” Gabe asked. Jack mumbled something incoherent as he shuffled into the bathroom but the door was shut before Gabe could make anything out of it. He raised an eyebrow at the door but shrugged it off and went to sit on the edge of his bed and tie his boots on. Several minutes later Jack opened the door and peeked out at Gabe, a furrow in his forehead.

“Gabe, does the toothpaste seem funny?” He asked.

“It smells very strongly, but it doesn’t smell like anything it shouldn’t.” Gabe replied, not bothering to bring up the fact that he had asked the same thing not five minute before.

“I thought the same thing. I wonder if it’s the chemicals they put in us. Maybe it’s making our noses work funny or something.” Jack said as he slipped his feet into his boots and laced them up quickly.

“All I know is that I’m getting another headache.” Gabe groused unhappily. Jack frowned and looked at him seriously for a moment.

“Are you okay?” He asked. Gabe shrugged.

“It’s just a headache, Indiana.” Gabe assured him. “Now come on, I’m hungry.” He prompted, heading to the door and opening it. Lister and Ingleberg were walking by just then and appeared to be talking very in-depth about something Gabe couldn’t make out.

Jack and Gabe made their way to the canteen and each grabbed a plate of food from the betas before they were hailed by Lister.

“Hey! Guys, come sit with us.” She called. Jack and Gabe exchanged a look before going over to sit with her. She was with Ingleberg, Harding, and Weiss. Jack and Gabe sat across from each other at the end of the little group and Lister poked her head around Ingleberg to look at them.

“Have either of you guys found your mate?” She asked. 

“Starting out the morning with personal questions, huh?” Gabe asked dryly. Harding laughed and grinned at him.

“I take it that you haven’t, then?” She asked.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Me either.” Jack added.

“Yea, me either. Weiss and Lister apparently have, though.” Ingleberg said with a fake scowl. Gabe shook his head in amusement as he took a sip of his orange juice.

“Oh, you’re just jealous. My man is the best thing to ever happen to me.” Lister said. Suddenly she chuckled and smiled widely at Gabe.

“Maybe my cousin will turn out to be your mate, huh?” She suggested. Gabe choked slightly on the bite of scrambled egg he’d taken and looked up at her a bit incredulously.

“Let’s slow down a bit, _chica_. I haven’t even met the dude.” Jack growled low in his throat and immediately covered it with a sharp cough.

“You okay?” Gabe asked him.

“Yea, I’m fine. Went down the wrong pipe.” Jack lied.

“Basara! You have a mate?” Weiss asked. The woman, sitting at the other table with Johnson, froze.

“Yes. I’ve got Marnie.” She said slowly without turning around. Gabe could see that Weiss was about to say something else and cut him off before he could start.

“Leave it.” He said with a tone that said there was no room for argument. Weiss looked at him curiously but let the matter drop.

~~~~~

The topic of mates was left untouched for the rest of the meal, though easy conversation continued. Eventually Gabe, Jack, Lister, and Harding all agreed to do some training after breakfast. They left the canteen before the betas came back. The four of them made their way back to the training room and Lister opened it by pressing her thumb against the little screen by the door. The lock beeped and the door to the weapons room opened for them.

“Alright, so Commander said that we need to work as a team.” Harding said, strapping on black gloves. “This is as good a chance as any to start working on that, considering that we’re all stuck with each other for the foreseeable future.”

“You take the lead.” Lister said as she picked up a long, thin gun. A sniper rifle. Harding glanced at Gabe and Jack to make sure that was okay with them as well and when neither of them complained she nodded.

“Alright, we all set?” She asked. A heartbeat passed and there were three nods. “Let’s go. Stick close and let me take point.” She walked over to the other door and pressed her thumb to that look as well. That door didn’t open.

“Subject Lisa Harding scanned. Please scan any other subjects participating.” A soothing, if monotone, voice requested.

“Subject Marianna Lister scanned. Please sc- subject Gabriel Reyes scanned. Pl- subject Jack Morrison scanned. Please scan any other subjects participating.” A few moments of silence passed as Gabe stared at Jack and the voice spoke again. “Subjects Harding, Lister, Reyes, and Morrison scanned. Training simulations available, target hunt, objective capture, survival, escort, and protection. Please select a training simulation.”

“Survival.” Harding called.

“Training simulation accepted. Simulation objective, avoid fatal shots for ten minutes. Bot level, medium. Attack commences in sixty seconds.” The training room announced. Harding looked at the others and grinned.

“Who’s ready to blow up some bots?”

“Whoa wait a minute did that say fatal shots?” Lister asked as the training room continued to count down.

“No, no. It’s fine. The bots shoot nonlethal bullets that can sense where they’ve hit. Whatever they tag is announced, so we’ll know what kind of wound we would have gotten.” Gabe explained. He shifted his grip on his guns and sighed.

“What?” Jack asked.

“I miss my beanie. I wear that fucking thing everywhere but _no_ that would be an outside variable or some shit.” Gabe groused. Lister laughed.

“Don’t worry, you can get it back as soon as we get out of the experiment. Until then try and have fun, yea?”

“Five…four...three…two…one.”

“Oh, I’ll have fun.” Gabe said as he glanced at Jack and grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told ya'll Gabe would figure it out sooner rather than later. None o' ya'll believed me though.


	5. Uncomfortable Situations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry this took so long to come out, I really am. I'm in the middle of finals week and I've been having some health issues but I managed to push this out for ya'll. Boy Howdy, thanks for your patience.
> 
> Don't forget to tell me what you think of this chapter!

Harding was a beast when she got hold of her pulse cannon. Gabe said as much and she just laughed, a deep _boom_ filling the air as she launched another huge pulse round into a poor bot’s chassis. 

“They’re closing in. We’ve got another group coming up the street to the left, I can’t take them all out.” Lister said from where she was crouched on top of an overturned car, her voice unusually deadpan as round after round was shot. She went unnervingly blank when she focused, Gabe and Jack had discovered. 

“I’ve got it!” Jack announced happily, lining up his gun. He took a deep breath and Gabe’s eyes widened.

“Not the rockets.” He half-said, half-asked as incredulity bled into his voice.

“Yes, the rockets.” Jack countered. He pushed a button on the side of his gun and Gabe had just enough time to step out of the way as he fell flat on his ass…again. The helix rockets tore into several of the bots and left several more damaged, making it easy enough for the others to pick off. Gabe was taking out nearly all of the ones that got close with his shotguns and leaving the distance fighting to the others, all of whom had weapons better equipped for it than he did.

“Sixty seconds remaining.” The training room voice called out. Jack scrambled to his feet only to flinch back down as Lister shot straight over his head.

“Hey! We’ve almost made-ow!” Harding shouted. The other three turned to look at her as the voice filled the area yet again.

“Head shot on subject Harding. Fatal injury. Mission failed.” Jack suddenly yelped and whirled around, the distraction having allowed a bot to get too close to him. “Abdominal shot on subject Morrison. Critical injury. Mission failed.”

After that it fell apart quickly. The first, minor, distraction had given the bots time to crowd around them and with Harding and Jack officially ‘dead’ and ‘critically wounded’ the others couldn’t cover themselves well enough. Lister was shot straight in the chest and Gabe was shot in both his left arm and stomach. It was a very large mission failure.

“What the fuck was that at the end?” Gabe grumbled as he set his guns back on the rack when they traipsed back into the weapons room, egos bruised. 

“No clue, but we were doing well. Weren’t we?” Jack asked as he put his own gun away. “I mean, my tailbone may never recover but other than that.”

“Those bullets _sting_.” Harding groused 

“Real ones feel worse.” Lister said. Her voice was still dead, though she seemed to be coming back to herself bit by bit.

“Well I know that.” Harding said with a wave of her hand. “But seriously, we were doing so good up til I got shot. You guys looked and that was all it took for us to _all_ die.”

“Don’t get shot next time.” Lister said dryly. Harding took a deep breath, like she was going to say something, and she looked a bit indignant before Gabe could cut her off.

“That wasn’t our issue. Our issue was that we weren’t using Lister properly and we were just shooting whatever got close, we didn’t have a system for dealing with the bots.” Gabe said. Jack grinned at him but didn’t say anything.

“What do you mean we weren’t using Lister right?” Harding asked, a little line of confusion between her eyebrows. Lister popped one hip out and raised an eyebrow, as if challenging Gabe to say something. He gave her an unimpressed look before continuing.

“She was just shooting whatever she wanted to. We needed to work out a system where she shot the ones we couldn’t get to or the ones that were moving faster than others.”

“That’s all hunky-dory and everything but what do we do about it?” Lister asked. She was getting back to her usual self and the attitude was coming with it. Jack had to hold back a smile at the slowly raised eyebrow Gabe gave her.

“We figure out a system, obviously. We’ll run it again tomorrow. Until then try and think of ways you believe we could cover each other.” His tone held a note of finality to it and Jack almost expected him to say ‘dismissed’. Harding and Lister heard the same thing Jack did and walked out together, leaving Gabe and Jack alone in the weapons room.

“What?” Gabe asked, looking at Jack curiously. “What’s that face?”

“Nothing. Just thought you sounded great.” Jack told him with a shrug. Gabe let out a short laugh and shot him a quick grin.

“You just have low standards.” He quipped as he held open the door for Jack.

“That’s why I like you.” Jack replied, hip-checking Gabe as he walked by. Gabe laughed again and followed Jack out into the hall as he stretched his arms high above his head. Jack had the faint hope in the back of his mind that the hem of Gabe’s shirt would rise up past the top of his pants, but of course the shirt fit him too well.

“Indiana, I’ll have you know that I meet the absolute highest of standards.” Gabe said confidently.

“Keep telling yourself that.” Jack said with the most condescending smile he could manage without laughing. Gabe suddenly stopped and Jack stopped as well, turning to look at him curiously. Gabe’s face was carefully blank as he took a few steps forward and got right up in Jack’s space. Jack wanted to take a step back, but that would be admitting Gabe’s dominance over him and he _refused_ to do that. Gabe’s lips quirked up in the corners and he leaned forward so his mouth was right next to Jack’s ear.

“What were you saying?” He asked with a low, dark tone. He heard Jack take a sharp breath and backed away. The last thing he needed was to get a harassment suit filed against him, after all.

“I’m going to the gym.” Gabe announced, stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking away without looking back. Jack stared at the back of his head in disbelief and scowled when Gabe went out of sight around a corner.

“What the fuck? What the _fuck_? What the FUCK?” Jack muttered to himself as he stalked down the hall after Gabe. He could still smell Gabe in the hall. Could still feel it tickling his nose and coating the back of his tongue. There was the scent of a powerful alpha lingering in the air and it was fogging Jack’s brain uncomfortably. It was begging Jack to fling himself at Gabe and bare his throat. Jack hated that just his smell was doing that to him.

“You don’t just get all up in somebody’s face and then walk away like that. Who the hell are you? I will _not_ get fucking teased by some goddamn alpha with a goddamn superiority complex no matter how hot they are.” Jack said to himself. “Hey!” He shouted when he saw Gabe again, just outside the door to the gym. Gabe turned around automatically at the noise and quickly spotted the angry blonde stalking toward him.

“What do you need?” He asked calmly.

“What was that?” Jack demanded as he came to a stop in front of the other man. His arms crossed over his chest as he waited.

“Calm down, blondie. I was just messing with you. If you want me to stop, I will.” Gabe said evenly.

“What? No! That’s not what I meant. You can’t just do that to someone and walk away!” Jack said just a bit too loudly. 

“Do what?” Gabe asked innocently. He crossed his arms as well and leaned against the wall next to the gym door like he was preparing for a long conversation.

“You know what, you fucking alpha asshole. You can’t use your scent on me like that, okay? It’s not fair. I mean, for the love of everything holy Gabe if you use your scent like that you’re no better than any of the other…” Gabe held up a hand, cutting him off.

“Jack, what are you talking about?” He asked again. It was the first time Gabe had ever used Jack’s real name and he sounded genuinely confused. The combination was enough to make Jack stop talking completely and snap his mouth shut with an audible clack of teeth. Gabe folded his arms again and waited.

“When we were talking in the hall you…hi.” Jack said, interrupting himself to greet Johnson as he came out of the gym. He nodded back and gave a muttered greeting, looking at the pair oddly but walking away. Jack waited for him to get out of earshot before continuing.

“When we were talking in the hall. Gabe, you were letting off intense amounts of scent. I bet you could still smell it if you went back.” Jack said with a sharp gesture in the general direction of the hall he’d come from.

“I swear I wasn’t trying to.” Gabe assured him. “I didn’t even realize I was doing it. Are you sure you’re not just going through the same thing that happened this morning? We both smelt the toothpaste way stronger than we should have been able to. Maybe that’s all that’s happening here.” Gabe suggested, though there was a little crease in his forehead that told Jack he was thinking about it seriously.

“Or maybe whatever they pumped into you is doing this.” Jack mused. He wasn’t angry anymore now that he knew Gabe wasn’t purposefully trying Jack’s nerves. He was, however, very confused.

“Wait, wait a minute.” Jack said suddenly. He opened the door to the gym and poked his head in, scanning the room quickly. “Kit! Could you come here for a moment?” He called. Several moments later she stepped out into the hall with them.

“What’s up?” She asked as she wiped the sweat from her face with a rough white towel. She’d stripped out of her shirt and tucked it into the waistband of her athletic shorts, leaving her in just a black sports bra.

“I need you to do something for me. Just take a walk down the hall where our rooms are and come back and tell us what you smell, okay?” Jack asked with a brilliant smile. Kit rolled her eyes and draped the towel over one shoulder.

“Sure. No idea what I’m supposed to be smelling, but sure.” She muttered to herself as she walked away. Jack gave Gabe a pointed look and stuffed his hands in his pockets as he waited for Kit to come back. It only took a few moments for her to coming jogging back around the corner, glancing over her shoulder before fixing Jack with a look of mild distain. 

“Jack, I don’t know what happened, I don’t _want_ to know what happened, but someone’s either going into their rut or got challenged because that hall is fucking flooded with scent.” Kit said, her face twisted up unhappily.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked as he took a few steps forward to rest a hand on her upper arm in concern.

“Yea, you feeling alright?” Gabe asked, brow furrowing.

“Fine, just…I’m uneasy. Jack I don’t know why you wanted me to check that but I’m telling you that whoever was in that hall before me was trying to ward off every other alpha here.” Kit said with a meaningful look at Jack. “I can’t tell who it is, but if you know stay away from them.” She said.

“Oh, uh, thank you.” Jack said.

“Sure, just don’t ask me to mess with whoever that was.” Kit said with a small, teasing smile before she slipped back into the gym. 

“I don’t get it,” Gabe said. “,in order to put off as much scent as she was talking about I’d have to be trying pretty damn hard and I didn’t even know I was doing it.” Jack’s eyes narrowed at him slightly and he tilted his head a bit.

“We should really get you to the doctors. This isn’t normal, Gabe. This is probably some freaky side-effect of the crap they were putting in us the other day.” Jack said. Gabe gripped one hand in the other and absently rubbed a thumb along the scent gland on his wrist.

“Yea, yea I need to go see Doctor Cho or someone, at least.” Gabe murmured.

~~~~~

The eyebrows of the nurse turned up in his confusion and he peered at Gabe a bit skeptically.

“You’re saying that you put off massive amounts of pheromones without being aware of the fact that you were putting them off?” The nurse asked for clarification.

“Yes.” Gabe confirmed with a nod. The nurse raised both eyebrows and looked down at his tablet for a moment.

“What were you doing during the event?”

“Just talking to one of the other soldiers, nothing major.”

“Nothing major? Neither of you said anything of consequence? Nothing to anger you in any way?”

“No, nothing like that. We were…I was teasing him, I suppose. Nothing that would make me angry.” Gabe said, a touch of color rising in his cheeks. The nurse didn’t even look up at Gabe as he continued to type away on the tablet.

“Uh-huh. Who were you talking to?” He asked.

“Indi- Morrison.” Gabe corrected quickly. He sat on the bed, fidgeting, for a few more moments before the nurse finally looked at him with slightly bored eyes.

“I’ll go get your doctor. It says you’re under Doctor Cho, is that correct?”

“Yes.” Gabe said with a nod.

“Perfect, she’ll be here in a few moments.” He said, turning on his heel and quickly walking away. His sneakers made soft _squeaking_ noises as he walked and Gabe wrinkled his nose at the unpleasant sound. It grated on him. He leaned back slightly and waited for the doctor to show up. 

It took perhaps three minutes for her to stroll up, the sound of heels clicking dramatically against the linoleum of the med bay. Doctor Cho’s lab coat was open in the front and showed off the tight black pencil skirt and beaded red tank top she wore underneath. She came to a stop in front of him and shifted most of her weight onto one foot, making her hip pop out slightly as she checked the tablet the nurse handed her.

“Damn, where’re you going tonight?” Gabe asked, genuinely curious as he raised an eyebrow at the outfit.

“Commander Cho and I are going out for our anniversary.” She told him lightly, long nails making _tickticktick_ sounds as she tapped them on the screen. “So what I’m seeing here is a dramatic increase in pheromone production and release as well as hormonal incontinence.”

“I knew what you were saying at the beginning there, but you lost me after a minute.” Gabe muttered.

“It means you can’t control your scent.” She summed, looking up at Gabe seriously. “But the medicine we gave you should not have done this. It says that you were talking with Morrison during the incident, have you noticed anything different about him? Has he complained about any side effects?”

“We both had issues with smell this morning, I guess.” Gabe said.

“Heightened olfactory sense.” The nurse supplied. Doctor Cho nodded absently and showed the nurse something on the tablet. He peered at it for a moment before nodding as well before walking away, tugging the paper curtain shut as he did so.

“I’m going to draw some blood and do a few gland swabs to see if this change is because of the medicine.” Doctor Cho told him as she grabbed a box of latex gloves and slipped a pair on. She set the tablet down on the supply cart and took up a strip of rubber, which she wrapped around Gabe’s upper arm. She flicked the crook of his elbow a few times. She grabbed a needle and gently slid it into his vein, letting the red liquid flow through the short plastic tubing and into the vial. When it was about three quarters full she disconnected it and took the needle out.

“Do I need to wait for the results to come back?” Gabe asked as she took cotton swabs and brushed them roughly against the scent gland at his left wrist.

“No. You don’t even need to know the results unless I decide to give them to you.” She told him. She rummaged through the cart for a moment before pulling out a plastic bag with BIOHAZARD printed on the side and the biohazard symbol beneath it. She dropped the swab inside and snatched up a Sharpie. She snagged the lid off with her teeth and scribbled something before capping it again and tossing it back on the cart, vial and bag in hand.

“You haven’t experienced any other symptoms.” Doctor Cho said, posing it as more of a question than statement.

“Mild headaches, but nothing like what I got when I first got the injection.” Gabe told her easily. She looked at him a bit suspiciously for a moment but nodded.

“Alright. You can leave now. You’re still coming back to see me tomorrow for your new injections, this doesn’t excuse you from the experiment.” She informed him. Gabe laughed and flashed her a grin as he unwrapped the rubber from his arm and clenched his fingers a few ties to get the blood flowing again.

“I wouldn’t dream of missing our appointment. You’re a lovely woman, you know.” Gabe told her. She raised an eyebrow at him, but smirked.

“We’re both gay, Mister Reyes. You can’t flatter me into giving you special treatment.”

“Damn, I was really hoping for a lollipop. Do you not have those? I’d like cherry.”

“I assumed that soldiers wouldn’t need lollipops to come see me. Perhaps I assumed incorrectly.”

“I’d certainly be more eager to come if you had a jar.” Gabe told her with a faux seriousness nod.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Mister Reyes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gabe likes lollipops and I like foreshadowing.


	6. Endless Teasing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I love to hear what you think and you can ask me questions or send me prompts at Caitninja on tumblr!

“Mister Morrison, come with me, please.” A man said from beside Jack, who was just shutting down the treadmill.

“Uh, okay. I was just about to hit the showers…”

“Doctor Cho has requested that you see her immediately.” The man interrupted. Jack’s eyes widened. He’d just sent Gabe to Doctor Cho not twenty minutes ago. If something was so wrong that they were calling in Jack, he needed to go. Now.

“To the med bay, right?” Jack said as he quickly wiped his face free of sweat with the bottom of his shirt before letting it fall back in place.

“Yes.” The man said. Jack nodded and began quickly walking down the hall, doing more of a speed walk than anything. He waved to Kit as she walked by and she waved back but he didn’t pause to talk.

“Is Ga-Reyes okay?” Jack asked the man, who was struggling slightly to keep up.

“I cannot tell you.” The man said a bit irritably. He glared at Jack as he pushed open the door to the med bay and Jack followed him obediently. He hoped Gabe was okay.

The man led him over to a bed covered in paper and Jack immediately glanced around for Gabe. He wasn’t there. The man pulled the paper partition around the bed and Jack raised an eyebrow.

“What’s going on?”

“Please sit down, I have a few questions for you.” The man said dryly. Jack slowly sat on the bed and his eyes widened.

“Oh god, he’s dead, isn’t he?” The man looked up at him and quirked an eyebrow.

“I assure you subject Reyes is not dead.” He said in the slow way in which you spoke to someone stupid.

“Oh, then why am I here?”

“Is it correct that you have experienced a heightened olfactory sense?” He asked, picking up a tablet from the little table of medical supplies nearby. He looked at Jack condescendingly. “That means you could smell very strongly.”

“I know that it means.” Jack bristled with a frown. “And yes, it is true. It’s gone now.”

“I see. Have you experienced any other odd symptoms?”

“I mean, not really.” Jack said a bit indecisively. What counted as an odd symptom? Was the odd feeling he’d gotten in the hall a symptom? What would it be a symptom of? The injections? The man gave him an odd look and started to say something, but was cut off.

“Travis, you should have told me he was here.” Doctor Cho said, slipping in past the partition. 

“I was just asking him the preliminary questions. I hadn’t finished.” The man, apparently named Travis, said. He was a nurse, then, and not just some random guy that decided Jack looked like he needed to be badgered.

“I see.” She said, looking over at the screen of the tablet as Travis tilted it toward her. She nodded almost absently and looked at Jack.

“How close are you and Mister Reyes?” She asked.

“Uh.” He replied eloquently.

“I see that the two of you have been roomed together. Do you spend any time with him apart from that?” 

“Yea, actually. We spend a lot of time together. You know, there isn’t much to do around here but train and play poker, so we end up doing stuff.” Jack said, growing more and more confused the longer he sat with unanswered questions and these odd things they kept asking him.

“I see. When is your next heat scheduled?” She asked, looking back down at the tablet as Travis typed on it.

“Uh, like two weeks I think. I’m not too sure though, I’ll know for sure a couple of days before it hits. Why?”

“I’m looking into something, that’s all you need to know. It says in your file that you don’t have a mate.”

“That’s right.” He replied slowly.

“It also says that you have not found your true mate.”

“If I had, I would have a mate now, wouldn’t I.” Jack said, unable to keep the slight sarcasm from his voice.

“There’s no need to be antagonistic, Mister Morrison.” Doctor Cho answered evenly.

“I just want to know why you’re asking me all of these things. Is Reyes okay? Did something happen that I need to know about?”

“Mister Reyes is fine. We are asking you these things because his condition may have an affect on you as well, considering your close proximity to one another.”

“What condition?” Jack asked, brow furrowing. Didn’t she just say he was fine? What the hell was going on?

“Have you experienced any odd reactions? Any emotional instability toward Mister Reyes or anyone else?” Doctor Cho continued, ignoring his question.

“I mean, I got a bit…flustered? I don’t know. I was angry about it afterward, but when he had his…scent incident…I was a bit off balance.” Jack admitted with just the slightest hint of red on his cheeks. It was one thing to say Gabe had thrown him off and an entire other thing to say he’d wanted nothing more than to plaster himself to Gabe and bare his throat. He had too much pride for that. Far too much pride.

“That’s only to be expected of an omega.” Travis sniffed. He way he’d said the word ‘omega’ made Jack narrow his eyes slightly.

“Travis.” Doctor Cho said lightly.

“What I mean is, he was releasing huge amounts of alpha pheromone and it is in your biology to react. It would be more unusual for it to have not affected you at all.”

“I see.” Was all Jack said. There were two shrill beeps and Jack looked up curiously.

“Ah, lunch has begun.” Doctor Cho said absently. “I suppose there’s no real reason to keep you. I believe your lunch has pineapple. Do avoid giving it to Reyes this time.” She said, giving him a knowing look. Jack stiffened slightly and nodded, shooting them both last glanced before walking out and making his way to the mess hall.

It made sense that they were being watched. Jack should have expected it. He just hadn’t thought about it, really, and having such a casual reference to his own activities tossed at him was a bit startling. It seemed like an invasion, even though he hadn’t been doing anything particularly interesting. He paused in the middle of the hall.

There would be video of his little encounter with Reyes in the hall, then.

That thought was both disturbing and humiliating. It wasn’t like they were _doing_ anything, but it was still a teasing, private moment. He just knew that Doctor Cho and who-knows-else were going to be watching it over and over and over again to see if any of it had caused Reyes’ slip in control. 

“Oh god.” Jack muttered.

“You alright?” Someone asked. Jack jumped and looked over his shoulder. Johnson was standing there, looking just as startled as he was.

“Uh, yea. Sorry, spaced out a bit I guess.” Jack offered.

“You sure, man? You were just kinda standing there.” Johnson said.

“Yea, I’m fine. You heading to lunch?”

“Mhm. Did you know this place actually has a pretty slick library?” Johnson said as he came up next to Jack and they started walking together in the direction of the mess.

“Really? That hadn’t been a part of our tour.” Jack said, truly interested.

“Well it isn’t exactly a library as you would think of one. It’s more like…a bunch of books people brought in and forgot about. There’s a bunch of medical books and a few text books I’m pretty sure are from med school, but like, there are actual books in there too. Most of it is nonfiction but I found some sci-fi. There was even an erotica novel at the very back of a shelf.” Johnson said with a laugh. Jack grinned.

“Oh I’m sure you didn’t look at _that_ at all.” Jack said with mock sincerity as he opened the door to the mess. Johnson laughed brightly as he stepped through and clapped a hand on Jack’s shoulder when he followed.

“Listen, man. I may like you but you’re not gonna figure out my kinks this early. Take a guy out first, geez. I’d like a nice white wine with a fish dinner if you want me to put out.” Jack laughed so hard he actually snorted and Johnson’s eyes widened in delight.

“Oh my god!” He shouted. Jack punched him in the shoulder but laughed as well as they made their way to the betas, who handed them their individualized meals.

“Shut up.” Jack said, still half laughing.

“Hey guys.” Gabe said from where he was sitting with Weiss and Lister. He raised an eyebrow. “What’s so funny?” Jack immediately sat next to him and Johnson sat on Jack’s other side, leaving Weiss and Lister on the opposite side of the table.

“Have you guys made Golden Boy here laugh? Like _really_ laugh?” He asked.

“Golden Boy.” Gabe repeated with a small frown.

“Yea, Morrison.” Johnson said absently. “If you make him laugh hard enough he…”

“Johnson, I know what you read.” Morrison interrupted with a half-hearted threat as he pointed the pointy bit of his fork at the other man. Johnson held up his hands in surrender.

“You got me, you got me. I’ll behave.”

“Now I don’t believe that for a second.” Lister laughed. Gabe scowled down at his food and poked it a bit before taking a bite of chili. It was too bland.

“Hey, you alright?” Jack asked quietly as the others kept talking. Gabe shrugged.

“I’m fine.”

“What did Doctor Cho say to you? They just pulled me in and asked all sorts of questions.” Jack said as he started in on his own food. There was pineapple.

“You got pulled into the med bay?” Gabe asked, turning to him more fully, his odd mood forgotten as he looked at Jack in confusion.

“Yea, some nurse named Travis got me from the gym. I haven’t had a chance to shower.” Jack added, his nose wrinkling. He was sure he smelled _fantastic_.

“They took some blood and asked dumbass questions.” Gabe said, going back to his food.

“Why were you two in med? Are you okay?” Weiss asked, his brow creasing with concern.

“It’s no big deal. I had an issue earlier so I went in. I guess they brought Jack in because he was there. Probably just wanted another account.” Gabe said with a shrug.

“Hey! Can I call you Jack too?” Lister asked, pouting at Jack. “It’s not fair that he gets to if I don’t. We’re just as good friends, yea?” Jack just laughed and rolled his eyes.

“Call me whatever you want. As long as it’s not Golden Boy.” He said, eyes sliding to Johnson. Johnson just shook his head and grinned.

“Man, I’m running out of shit to do. You can only cheat the same people at cards so many times.” Lister sighed.

“I knew it!” Weiss said, slapping the top of the table and pointing at her accusingly. She eyed him unhappily.

“You’re from New York, I thought you’d at least cheat back and we could see who had more tricks. You were almost too easy to beat.”

“I’m from New York the _state_. Very different from the city. I grew up on a damn apple orchard.”

“Well I don’t know about you guys, but I am sorely missing my spar time.” Johnson said.

“Yes!” Lister agreed eagerly. “We should totally spar. I’ll beat all your asses.”

“Whoa, did I hear someone say they were sparing?” Kit asked from the other table, leaning back so she was officially in the conversation.

“Yea, I’m in too.” Jack said.

“Count me in.” Weiss seconded.

“Well damn, I’ve gotta see this.” Tully said.

“Fuck all ya’ll. Listen, I’ll kick all of your asses. _All of them_.” Black said around a mouthful of food.

“I guess that’s it, then. Everyone’s in.” Lister said with a quick look around the room to confirm it. She nodded and quickly shoveled as much food in her mouth as she possibly could.

“Slow down! You’ll choke to death, idiot. We’ve got the better part of an hour left!” Weiss chided as he made no move to stop her from continuing to shove food down her throat.

“Do you really think you can take me, Golden Boy?” Johnson asked Jack with a small, toothy grin. Jack rolled his eyes and nudged Johnson with his shoulder.

“I could take you blindfolded.” Jack quipped.

“Please, I’ll destroy both of you.” Gabe scoffed.

~~~~~

They joked around for the rest of the hour and when it was up they all meandered down to the gym. Lister bounded in, her hair bouncing around her shoulders as she took a pair of MMA gloves from a rack and slipped them on, pacing around the clear area in the gym as she did so.

“I’m first! Who wants to fight?” She asked, looking at the others.

“Me. I’ve gotta get back at you for cheating me.” Weiss said instantly, grabbing his own pair of gloves. The rest of the group respectfully stepped back a bit, clearing the mat for them.

“You ready?” Lister asked when Weiss had gotten his gloves on.

“Born ready.” He grinned back.

“Who’s your money on?” Jack whispered to Gabe.

“Lister.” Gabe said instantly. Jack watched them circle each other for a moment, trading half-hearted swipes to test their reflexes against each other.

“You know, I think you’re right.” Jack finally decided.

“Of course I’m right.” Gabe countered, crossing his arms over his chest. 

Lister was the first one to truly commit. It started as one of the little jabs they’d both been doing, and while Weiss easily batted it away her other fist punched into his chest. He gasped slightly but instead of backing off he leaned in, slamming an elbow into her ribs. They both backed away and circled a bit more, eyeing each other warily. Weiss swung a foot toward Lister’s legs. She blocked it with her shin, pushing it to the side and setting him off balance, which allowed her to come in with a quick jab. He saw it coming. He grabbed her wrist and roughly pulled her forward. She hadn’t been prepared for the sudden shift in weight and fell straight on her face. Quickly flipping over and rolling back to her feet, Lister grinned.

“Not bad, white boy.”

“Back at you.” He said with his own little flash of teeth before they were at it again. 

In the end they were pretty evenly matched, and the spar was called on both sides out of sheer exhaustion. They bumped fists and then stripped away the gloves, Lister waving hers in the air.

“Who’s up?” She asked.

“Me. Johnson, you in?” Peters asked, catching the gloves that Lister threw him.

“Hell yea I’m in.” Johnson said with an easy smile.

~~~~~

A few more matches went by before Black turned to Gabe with a grin.

“Bet ten bucks I knock you on your ass first.” She said, all confidence.

“I’ll take that.” He answered with just as much assurance, already strapping on the gloves that were thrown at him. Black and Gabe looked at each other for a few moments, sizing each other up.

“You got this.” Jack whispered before he could stop himself. The words broke some unknown truce and Black launched herself at Gabe, elbow positioned perfectly to slam into his jaw. He twisted but kept his feet planted, grabbing onto her upper arm with one hand and her hip with the other as he tried to toss her ass-over-head. She leaned back sharply in a move that would have sent her sprawling on her back if Gabe hadn’t been trying to throw her in the opposite direction. Black purposefully went limp for a mere moment to wiggle out of his grip and they broke apart, circling again. Black’s eyes flicked over Gabe several times, but he was only looking at her face. She feigned a punch to the left and Gabe went for it, raising a forearm to block the fake as her knee flew into his stomach. Jack winced as all of Gabe’s air left him in an audible ‘whoosh’. Black took the moment to her advantage and swung her shin into the side of Gabe’s ankle but he shifted his weight to the other foot and the move only collapsed him to one knee instead of knocking him flat as she had hoped.

“Get him, Black.” Lister called. There was a jeering yell from someone else that couldn’t be taken as support for any specific person and then Gabe was on his feet again. He looked at Black warily and raised his chin. Daring. Her lip curled into a determined snarl before she threw herself at him again. She was getting sloppy, impatient. She overextended her punch when she missed his head, so she tried to turn it into an elbow to the throat. Gabe felt her hip twist into his side and instinctively he hooked a leg behind her knee and pulled, sending her to the ground.

He forgot that her arm was by his throat.

Black wrapped her arm around his neck and as she fell pulled him with her, sending them both sprawling on the mat together. There were a few moments of struggle before Black ended up straddling Gabe and she grinned down at him.

“I win.” She said triumphantly.

“We went down at the same time, idiot.” Gabe huffed. She scowled and turned to the people watching.

“Hey, who went down first? Cause I swear…” She was cut off by Gabe sharply jerking his hips up and Black’s balance was thrown off so suddenly that she face planted into the mat, letting Gabe roll to his feet.

“That wasn’t fucking nice.” Black snapped as she sat up, rubbing her nose petulantly.

“All’s fair in love and war.” Gabae said with a shrug as he started to tug off the gloves and look for whoever was going next. Black looked at Jack, sticking her bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout.

“Morrison, do something.” She whined. Jack raised his hands in front of him.

“What do you want me to do?” He asked incredulously.

“I don’t know! He’s _your_ boyfriend, not mine!” Black countered.

“Uh, no. Golden Boy’s all mine.” Johnson said with a snarky grin as he stepped up behind Jack, wrapping his arms around his waist and making loud kissing noises. Gabe’s head whipped around and he glared at the pair, though it was unnoticed.

“Uh-huh sure thing.” Lister said as she rolled her eyes.

“You’re just jealous. Look how cute he is.” Johnson cooed, pinching Jack’s cheek lightly.

“Oh fuck off.” Jack laughed, pulling away and playfully punching Johnson in the shoulder. “I’m a damn badass. I’m not cute.” Gabe allowed a small, almost smug, smile.

“And I’m not black.” Lister quipped without missing a beat. Jack turned on her and planted his hands on his hips.

“Whose side are you on, anyways?” He asked. She shrugged.

“Whichever one I feel like. If I can make fun of someone, I will.”

“Yea well I think I’m done getting made fun of. I’m getting a shower and taking a damn nap.” Jack grumbled good naturedly.

“Yea, I think we all need to shower.” Peters sighed. He was sporting a very unattractive sweat moustache on his upper lip, and the droplets quivered as he spoke. He really did need a shower.

Slowly the group broke up, some going to the communal showers and some drifting away to their rooms. Jack ended up going back to their room to shower as he hadn’t brought a change of clothes and Gabe rolled his eyes at how prude Jack seemed to be.

Gabe went to the men’s communal showers and stripped naked alongside Peters and Ingleberg before stepping into the large tiled room. He picked a shower head and turned on the hot water, standing beneath the spray happily for a few seconds and just letting it run over his sore, aching muscles. He’d probably have a bruise on his stomach from Black, but the thought didn’t bother him.

“Hey, Reyes.” Gabe glanced a few places down and saw Ingleberg looking at him as he ran some of the shitty generic soap through his hair.

“Yea?” Gabe replied, closing his eyes and sticking his head under the water, rubbing it deep into his hair. It used to be longer, much longer, but the damn military had made him shave it down to almost nothing. He kind of missed having curly hair.

“What’s up with Morrison? He’s got scent blockers, have you noticed?” Gabe paused for a moment before holding out a blind hand in Ingleberg’s general direction. The bottle of soap was passed and he filled the palm of his hand with the slick, green gel before setting it back on the floor where it had originally come from.

“I don’t know, I guess I never looked.” Gabe lied easily. He wasn’t about to tell Jack’s secret to someone just because they had asked. What the hell kind of person would that make him? What kind of friend?

“Huh.” Ingleberg said noncommittally. “It’s just that you guys are roomed together and you spend a lot of time together, is all. I just thought you may have noticed. Do you think he’s a beta or omega? Maybe that’s why the doctor the other day was talking about heats _and_ ruts, I mean…”

“What does it matter if he is?” Gabe interrupted as he vigorously scrubbed under one arm. “Does that change anything?” There was silence for a few moments before an answer came, from Peters across the room.

“Look, Ingleberg. My sister’s an omega. Her mate’s a beta. I really couldn’t give less of a shit what Morrison is as long as he does his job. You should feel the same.” Peters announced. There was the high squeal of a knob being turned and the sound of rushing water quieted as Peters turned his shower off and strode out, evidently done with the conversation.

“Hey, I didn’t mean nothing by it, I was just curious, y’know?” Ingleberg said to Gabe. Gabe didn’t know what to say to that, so he just stayed silent. Ingleberg frowned to himself and sighed before turning off his own shower.

“Man, I feel like a dick now.” He muttered to no one as he, too, left.

Gabe finished his shower in peace and slowly toweled off, taking advantage of the temporary privacy that the changing area offered. He should probably tell Jack that Ingleberg was asking after him. But he’d handled it, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Jack had said himself he didn’t care what the others knew as long as they treated him as an equal.

Gabe frowned.

As long as they treated him as an equal. What was the guarantee that they would? Peters would obviously be fine with it, and Weiss had rebuffed Johnson’s queries after the doctors had taken Gonzales. But that was hardly a promise of an open mind. Johnson seemed the most likely to start shit, but he hadn’t been the one asking. Did it matter who was asking?

Gabe sighed and ran a rough, calloused hand down his face. He missed his beard, too.

~~~~~

“Jack, we need to talk.” Gabe said as soon as they were alone in their room after dinner. Jack slowly turned to him from where he had been looking through his drawer, which had been filled with clean clothes sometime during that day along with Gabe’s.

“The last time someone said that to me it was just before my sister told me she was getting a divorce.” Jack said slowly. Gabe cracked a small grin.

“I’m getting divorced.” He said. Jack rolled his eyes and shut his drawer firmly.

“Ha ha, what’s this about?” He asked.

“Ingleberg was asking questions about you in the shower after the sparing. He noticed your scent blockers and has got it in his head that you’re not an alpha. I said I didn’t know.”

“Well he’s not wrong.” Jack said absently. He seemed to be thinking and Gabe waited patiently, pushing past him to get at his own drawer. 

“I guess there’s nothing really to do about it.” Jack finally said as Gabe was peeling off his pants and tugging on the sweatpants he slept in.

“What do you mean?” Gabe asked, not that he saw anything to do about the situation either.

“They’ll find out sooner or later, I guess. I feel bad about you lying for me.” Jack admitted, grabbing his own sleep clothes and holding them in his arms.

“ _Pendejo_.” Gabe tsked. “I’ve lied about dumber shit than this, you don’t need to feel bad. It’s not like I said you were such a great alpha that you dominated me over who got to use the bathroom first.” Gabe said with an eye roll.

“Although that does create an interesting mental picture.” Jack laughed brightly. Gabe smiled as well and let out a breathy chuckle.

“Yea, it does.” He admitted. They were silent for a moment before Jack smiled.

“Well, thanks for telling me. I’ll toss your clothes in the hamper for you.” He offered, extending a hand. Gabe tossed him the clothes and watched as the bathroom door shut firmly behind Jack.

He flopped down on his bed and groaned, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out the light that wouldn’t get turned off until Jack was back out. He was so damn tired and he _really_ didn’t want to know what kind of drama this shit kicked up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What will happen? Who knows? Find out next time on Fuck You, Drama!


	7. Unfortunate Omens

Their next round of injections was awful. Each of the soldiers was hooked up to a rolling IV with a single bag of some sort of medicine left to drip slowly down a tube into their veins.

“This isn’t so bad.” Black said.

“Speak for yourself. I hate needles.” Ingleberg moaned.

~~~~~

Nearly thirty minutes later Ingleberg was moaning into a bucket between bouts of vomiting.

“It won’t end.” Jack ground out between his teeth as he clutched his own bucket to his chest. He already chucked up all of his breakfast, as well as some stomach acid, but his body was still determined to send him into periods of dry heaving in place of actual vomiting.

“Hey, has anyone heard from Kit?” Tully asked. She’d been doing better than the others, only complaining of a stomach ache.

“I’m alive.” Kit murmured from where she’d curled up in her seat, knees to her chest and eyes closed.

“I’m not.” Peters said.

“Stop your bitching. You’re supposed to be the top damn soldiers in the country and you’re coming apart.” Commander Cho growled, arms crossed over her chest from where she was watching them all.

“Gabe, are you okay?” Jack asked, looking over to the man in the spot next to him.

“My skull feels like it’s going to split open.” Gabe said, eyes closed tight and fingers pinching the bridge of his nose. “You?”

“Like my stomach is turning itself inside out and clawing its way up my throat.” Jack said with a smile. Gabe opened his eyes long enough to glare at Jack before closing them again.

“I knew it. I knew you were smiling.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jack asked, tilting his head curiously.

“You’re always fucking smiling. It’s like you’re not even real. You were throwing up two minutes ago and somehow you don’t look remotely sick.” Gabe groused.

“Don’t be angry just cause he’s a pretty boy.” Johnson said with a laugh before snatching the bucket from Ingleberg and holding it between both hands for a moment. He evidently decided he wasn’t going to throw up after all and handed it back.

“Why thank you Johnson.” Jack said with a bright smile.

“You know, before I joined the military I worked at a public library. I thought that I’d read and heard of every form of torture imaginable. None of this was in any book _I_ ever saw.” Black groused.

“You signed up for this torture, so I don’t want to hear it.” Commander Cho snapped, annoyance lacing her tone. Doctor Cho walked by on her way to check Peters and let a hand trail along Commander Cho’s shoulder, making her relax instantly. Johnson laughed and rolled his eyes at the motion, making a slight gagging face at the action.

“Johnson.” Commander Cho warned. He held up his hands in defeat and glanced over at Jack and Gabe.

“Guys, we’ve all gotta stay bachelors forever. No mates.”

“You can’t help it if you find your mate. Especially if they’re your true mate.” Jack said with a slight frown.

“Oh, I know, I know.” Johnson said, backtracking quickly. Gabe raised an eyebrow.

“I’m damn glad I’m not your mate.” He said dryly. 

“I mean how rare is it to even _have_ a true mate?” Johnson asked.

“Statistically, there are around fifty thousand new cases of true mates every year. That, however, does not include any true mate pairs that haven’t met or will never meet. Theoretically everyone could have a true mate and it is simply rare to meet them.” Doctor Cho chimed in as she floated between people, checking on them and making notes as a few nurses trailed behind her like ducklings.

“I didn’t mean anything by it.” Johnson grumbled.

“Of course not.” Gabe said. Jack looked like he was going to say something but suddenly pitched forward and dry heaved over the bucket. Nothing came up, having vomited up everything in his stomach already, but he gagged painfully as his stomach clenched angrily. Johnson flinched and Gabe leaned as far to the side as he could without toppling his IV and rubbed a hand up and down Jack’s arm.

“Breathe, _güero_.” Gabe said soothingly. Jack spat out a mouthful of stomach bile, hunkering pitifully over the bucket. “You good?” Gabe asked after a minute.

“Yea, are you…okay?” Johnson asked slowly. Jack gave a weak thumbs up before turning to look at Gabe.

“I think my organs want to meet you.” He said with a thin smile. Gabe raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so?”

“Yea, they keep trying to crawl out my mouth to say hi.” Gabe let out a loud laugh and rubbed Jack’s arm one more time before settling back into his seat.

“You’ll be alright.”

“I’m not so sure.” Jack complained.

~~~~~

Several hours later the soldiers were each in their beds feeling miserable for themselves, as Doctor Cho had convinced Commander Cho that they were in no condition to run drills. Even Tully was feeling awful, last time Gabe and Jack saw her. The betas that delivered their food came by and dropped off half a dozen water bottles in their room. Jack had groaned and rolled onto his side so he was facing the wall when they came by and Gabe turned to look at the betas with death in his eyes for all the noise they were making.

“Doctor Cho said that some water would make you all feel better.” The woman said. They took a few steps in to set down the bottles and Gabe’s lip lifted in a half-hearted snarl as a growl bubbled up in his throat. The man averted his eyes immediately but the woman kept shooting him glances out of the corner of her eye, checking to make sure he wasn’t going to do anything as they beat a hasty retreat, leaving the water on the floor.

“Are they gone?” Jack asked in a whisper.

“Mm.” Gabe hummed in affirmation as he slowly sat up. His head swam with the motion but he managed to shuffle over to the water bottles and crack one open, downing it immediately. The tacky feeling in his mouth was gone, but his head was still pounding. He felt awful.

“Get up for a minute.” Gabe said tiredly. Jack made a mumbling sound that seemed like a question and Gabe picked up another bottle of water. “Come on, Jackie. Just sit up a bit.” Gabe prodded gently. There were a few grumbles but after a moment Jack sat up properly, looking down at Gabe from his bunk with a critical eye.

“What do you want?” He asked sourly. Gabe rose up on his toes and handed Jack two water bottles.

“Drink these. You’ll feel better, I promise.” Gabe said soothingly. He was doing his best to use the alpha croon, but his voice was too scratchy for it to work properly. Nevertheless, Jack opened one of the bottles and took tentative sips.

“I’m going to go check on the others, and one of those had better be empty by the time I get back.” Gabe warned as he moved to the door. They were empty words, and they both knew it.

“Yes, _alpha_.” Jack said mockingly. Gabe shot him an amused look over his shoulder as he left the room.

He first went to the room closest, room six. The names on the door were Marianna Lister and Gloria Gonzales. He stuck his head in and found Lister curled up on the bottom bunk emitting a high pitched whine that sounded disturbingly like someone in extreme distress. There were three water bottles on her set of drawers and Gabe went over, snagged on, and then sat on her bed beside her.

“Are you okay?” He asked with a low, soothing voice. Her whine fluctuated slightly but she didn’t really answer. 

“Here.” He said, pressing the bottle to her shoulder. “Drink at least one of these.” She stopped whining and slowly uncurled, sitting up next to him with crisscrossed legs. Her hair, short as it was, was rumpled on one side and she had evidently taken off her shirt as she was only in her sports bra. After another tap of the bottle Lister took it and drained it in large gulps before worrying the bottle between her hands.

“Thanks.” She mumbled. Gabe clapped a hand on her shoulder.

“There’s more on the drawers. If you need something come get me or talk to one of the Cho’s.” He said. She nodded and then fell back onto her side, curling up.

Gabe went through all of the other rooms as well, seeing Peters and Johnson, Basara and Black, Weiss and Ingleberg, and Tully and Harding. Tully had been taking a piss when he went to visit her and Harding, but he’d banged on the door and told her he expected her to drink water as well and if she died on the toilet so help him he was going to kill her. She’d just laughed through the door, though it sounded slightly painful.

By the time Gabe had gotten back to his own room his head was threatening to force his eyes out of their sockets with all the pressure that was being put on them. Jack seemed to be asleep, and there were two empty water bottles on the floor that he’d apparently dropped from his bunk. Gabe sighed before kicking them toward the other bottles and picking up one of the full ones. He sipped at it slowly as he sat on the edge of his bed and rubbed his head. God, it hurt.

Gabe eventually lay down and took a short nap, only to wake with the sounding of the lunch alert.

“Jack, get up.” He groused as he tried to stand.

“Did…did you call me Jackie earlier?” He heard Jack ask.

“Yes, now get moving Sunshine I need to see if anyone died while I was asleep.” Gabe said.

“You’re so testy.” Jack mumbled before promptly falling halfway off the ladder as he tried to get down.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Gabe asked with true concern as he watched Jack closely.

“I’m an omega, not a damn lily.” Jack complained mildly. Gabe gave him a small smile. 

“I’m not asking because you’re an omega.” He said. “Come on.” He put a hand on Jack’s shoulder and steered him out of the room. They met up with some other people as they wandered to the mess but they were all too miserable to say anything past ‘are you okay?’ and ‘meh’.

“Where’s Kit?” Gabe asked as he looked over the people sitting at the tables in mess. ‘Sitting’ being used loosely, Ingleberg was sprawled across half of a bench and Lister looked like she was asleep with her head on the table.

“Still in our room.” Black offered. “She said she wasn’t hungry.” Gabe made a noncommittal sound of disproval at that, but didn’t push the issue as the betas handed out the food.

“Does anyone else need to piss constantly? I think they shrank my fucking bladder.” Tully groused.

“Or you drank four bottles of water in an hour.” Harding deadpanned.

“I just feel like shit. Like I’ve crammed five days of the flu into one morning.” Peters said.

“That. That’s what it feels like.” Ingleberg agreed.

“I’m just…tired.” Johnson said.

“If you guys feel anything new or anything you’re concerned about go to the med bay. I don’t want any of you dying because you assumed it was a side effect.” Gabe said, poking at his soup with a spoon. He wasn’t very hungry, but he knew he needed to eat it. Eventually.

“I mean, the problem is I don’t know what’s new or concerning. For all we know being tired is a sign that it’s not working and having your leg fall off is a sign it’s perfect or some shit.” Lister mumbled, voice muffled by her arms and the table. A few of the others murmured their agreement and Gabe nodded.

“I know. This is tough, and unknown, and new. But that doesn’t mean we get to be complacent or careless. If you think something is seriously wrong you need to tell someone. Those nurses get a real kick out of hearing how their experiment is going so I won’t worry about going in too often or bothering them.” Gabe told them.

“Okay.” Peters said with a shrug. There were a few agreements around the two tables and then they fell into muted conversations over bowls of mushy stew and thin soup.

“You’re a natural.” Jack said after a few minutes.

“What do you mean?” Gabe asked. His bowl was only a quarter empty, if that, but he didn’t want to eat any more.

“You’re a leader. You’re stepping up, taking charge. You’re an alpha’s alpha.” Jack added with a small smile. Gabe snorted but gave his own smile in return.

“I’m used to it. This isn’t my first gig, Indiana.”

“Well it isn’t mine either, but I don’t work with people as well as you do.”

“Bullshit. You just work with them differently, that’s all. A pack needs different people with different personalities in order to work. Could you imagine a group of people all just like me?” Gabe asked, propping his head up with his chin in one hand.

“I dream about it every night.” Jack said, raising his eyes brows and widening his eyes comically. “It’s my favorite dream.” Gabe laughed and shoved Jack gently, making him groan.

“Gabe no, I’m delicate.”

“Bull fucking shit. You’re fucking smiling like goddamn Miss America over there and Kit’s _dead_.” Lister said, having finally sat up in order to eat.

“Kit’s not dead. Just mostly dead.” Ingleberg replied.

“If you keep bitching we’ll start a buddy system so no one is alone.” Gabe threatened, pointing a fork around the group. There was a chorus of groans around the room and Ingleberg mimed zipping his mouth shut.

“Guys, I’m not feeling so hot.” Johnson said. Jack leaned forward and peered at him, concerned.

“Yea, you don’t look so hot either.” Jack said slowly. Johnson grimaced.

“Damn, why don’t you rub some more salt in the wound?” He muttered.

“Don’t be a little bitch about it, you look like shit.” Tully said as she looked at him closely.

“Here,” Black said, standing up to come behind him and press a hand to his forehead.

“You have a fever. Do we know if that’s normal?” She asked, looking around at the others.

“None of this is normal. After lunch go back to the med bay.” Gabe decided.

“Who put you in charge?” Johnson asked, eyes narrowing. There was a sudden pungent odor in the air, one alpha challenging another. Gabe slowly set down his spoon and the room went deadly quiet as all conversation trailed off.

“It was a suggestion. If you want to take the risk, don’t go. Now here’s another suggestion, do not challenge me. I’m going to go ahead and assume you’re getting close to your rut and we’re going to forget this. But don’t push it. I _will_ push back.” Gabe said, his voice low with warning. Johnson sat up a little straighter.

“Are you threatening me?” He hissed. Jack tapped the table with his hand loudly.

“Hey, let’s not do this when we’re all sick, okay? Whatever they pumped into us is messing with our heads and probably making us all irritable. Let’s not do anything we’ll regret, yea?” Jack suggested. Johnson blinked and the sharp scent of the challenge faded.

“Yea…yea, Gabe I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean it. I’ll, uh, I’ll go to the med bay.” He said before standing. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but thought better of it and just left.

“That was fun.” Harding muttered sarcastically.

“Johnson could at least _try_ to control himself.” Peters said critically.

“I think Gabe’s right, he’s probably just getting close to his rut. It’s not like he can help it any more than the rest of us can.” Jack said with a shrug. “Gabe, do you want to play some poker?”

“Yea, let’s go.” Gabe agreed. They said their good-byes and wandered out in the direction of the rec room.

Jack had finished his food, Gabe hadn’t.

~~~~~

“You are probably the best poker player I’ve ever met.” Gabe said sarcastically as he won the fourth hand in a row. Jack scowled unhappily.

“Not all of us grew up in Texas. I bet you’re secretly a cowboy. You probably have a really thick accent and everything that you’re just hiding from us.” Jack quipped. Gabe snorted as he dealt the next hand and looked at his new cards.

“Absolutely not. Real cowboys don’t exist. If you ever see one, it’s because they’re a dumbass.” Gabe said dryly. He shifted around a few of his cards.

“Howdy, howdy, howdy. My name’s Gabe and I’m a dumbass.” Jack said with the worst fake accent Gabe had ever heard.

“Oh my god, stop.” Gabe laughed. Jack stood from the table after setting his cards face down and stuck his thumbs through his belt loops, striking a pose with a dramatic frown.

“Now what’s all this? You gamblin’, son? That’s a felony ‘round these parts.” He said, chin wrinkling in his attempt to keep a straight face even as Gabe burst out laughing. Jack won that hand after Gabe accidentally flashed his hand in his fit of joy.

~~~~~

“Darling, we need to deal with this.” Doctor Cho said to her wife, frowning. “I don’t know if this will affect the results or not, but I’m not sure what to do to isolate the variable." Commander Cho frowned as well.

“What do we do?”

“I don’t know. I could contact some of the other doctors the one working with the other subjects, and ask their opinion.” Her wife furrowed her brow and looked at the wall of video feed. It covered every single inch of the facility, save for the bathrooms.

“You talk to the doctors, I’ll contact some of the other commanders. We’ll figure this out. If need be, we’ll contact the general.”

“Oh, I don’t think it will come to that. It’s not like this is the first time in history that it’s happened.” Doctor Cho said with an attempt at a blasé tone.

“This _is_ the first time it has happened during the experiment, though. We don’t know how this will change it.” Commander Cho insisted. Doctor Cho sighed.

“You’re right, I just…I don’t want this to end badly. For anyone.”

“It won’t if I have anything to do with it. I promise.” Commander Cho said, kissing her wife’s temple in a rare show of affection while at work.

“I’m going to hold you to that.” Doctor Cho said. She tried to feel reassured, she really did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...the newest tag is there for the next few chapters. I'm sorry.
> 
> Bonus: Gabe doesn't keep his attitude toward cowboys
> 
> If you want some hints or background come yell at me on tumblr at Caitninja


	8. Reluctant Plans

Gonzales came back two days later, the day before their next set of injections, and just sort of popped into breakfast with the rest of the group.

“Hey guys.” She greeted as she sat down with her food.

“Gonzales!” Weiss said. “Good to see you back.”

“I almost forgot you were here. I got used to having my own room.” Lister admitted. Gonzales rolled her eyes.

“Oh fuck off.” She laughed. “What’d I miss? How’d the last assessment go?”

“We never did it.” Gabe told her as he and Jack silently traded their bacon. Gabe was almost positive his bacon was purposefully doused in syrup this time.

“What do you mean?” Gonzales asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.

“You missed our last injection, but we were all so sick afterwards that Commander Cho took pity on us and let us be miserable in our rooms.” Jack informed her.

“Yes, I did. But today you’re doing your assessments.” At Commander Cho’s voice all of the soldiers flew to their feet, eyes straight ahead and hands by their sides. “We have a few commanders and doctors from other experiment sites here to observe and they want to see how you’re all doing. I expect you all to be in the weapons room as soon as breakfast is over.” She continued.

“Yes, Commander.” Came the unanimous reply. She huffed and glanced over the soldiers, only a few of which could see her due to the fact that they had just stood at attention without turning to face her. Her eyes seemed to linger on Gabe for a few moments and Jack swore he saw pity flicker on her face before she stiffened and turned away.

“As you were.” She barked as she left. Instantly the soldiers relaxed and collapsed back onto the benches.

“Yo what the fuck was that all about? There are other experiment sites?” Lister asked, forehead wrinkling in confusion.

“Of course there are other sites. In all the sci-fi books there is always more than one experiment set just in case something happens.” Black said sagely, pointing her oatmeal-covered spoon at Lister. Lister wrinkled her nose.

“Books are for nerds.” Black frowned at her and set her spoon down.

“Books are for people who want to understand the world.”

“Then why are so many books fiction?”

“Who said fiction doesn’t have to do with the world?” Lister huffed at Black and frowned.

“It’s _fiction_. It’s not real.” Black smiled and looked at her a bit condescendingly.

“Art imitates life, and themes in books reflect themes in life.” Black explained.

“I just don’t get it. I don’t like books.” Lister announced, shoving more food in her mouth. Black rolled her eyes and Johnson laughed.

“You’re the alpha stereotype.” Johnson announced.

“What does that make you, Johnson?” Peters asked. Jack smirked and nudged Gabe.

“What does that make you?” Jack whispered. Gabe snickered and bumped Jack’s shoulder with his own.

“Shut up.” He laughed. “Now hurry up and eat. I’d hate for you to get kicked out because you were late to the assessment.” Jack made a fish-face by sticking out his lips and puffing up his cheeks.

“You’re not my alpha.” He said, voice comically distorted by the awkward face. Gabe burst out laughing and that made Jack grin back, losing his feigned petulance. Gabe was just so…gorgeous.

“I’m nobody’s alpha, Jackie. I was saying that I’d hate to lose my friend.” Gabe said when he finally stopped laughing. His eyes were still wrinkled with happiness and his teeth flashed as he spoke. Jack really wanted to lean forward and bury his face in the crook of his neck and absolutely _live_ in his scent.

Whoa, what?

 _Where did that come from?_ Jack’s mind screamed at him. Gabe looked at him closely and frowned suddenly.

“You’re worrying about something.” He decided. Jack gave a wry smirk.

“You can’t smell me.” _You can’t know if I’m worried._

“Ah, but I’m an expert poker player,” Gabe teased. “, and when you worry you get a little wrinkle right…here.” He said, tapping Jack lightly on the chin. “So tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I’m…nervous. About the other commanders.” Jack lied. How, exactly, do you tell the man that you’re sleeping three feet above that you were five seconds from jumping his bones? No. It’s better to lie.

“Yea, me too.” Gabe admitted, sitting back slightly and crossing his arms over his chest in thought. “We just need to do the best we can.”

“Well, we know how our last session went.” Jack pointed out. Gabe nodded and closed his eyes for a moment, the skin between his eyebrows creasing.

“Lister.” He called after several seconds, not opening his eyes even as he addressed her. 

“Yes?”

“I need you on your ‘A’ game today. Watch for bots, call them out, take shots on the ones we can’t reach.” He said. He opened his eyes to look at her seriously and she nodded.

“I’ve got it.” She assured him.

“Harding, you need to stick with someone. You leave yourself open too often and you need someone to watch your back. Tully, don’t run off on your own. We’ll all work and survive better together. Gonzales, you need to watch where your bombs go. No fuck-ups will be tolerated today.” Gabe announced.

“Who said I was gonna fuck up?” Gonzales asked. While just a few days ago this may have been accompanied with a snarl, now she was just poking fun.

“We can’t do anything risky today, yea? We’ve got to impress not just Commander Cho, but all of the other commanders as well.”

~~~~~

“How are we going to know for sure?” Commander Lofton asked seriously.

“We’ve seen the blood work. That, combined with the differences in the first and second medical tests, says all we need to know. I’m convinced.” Doctor Schwartz contradicted.

“As am I.” Doctor Cho added, grateful that her colleague was backing up her own conclusion. The two women nodded at each other and Commander Lofton scowled, opening his mouth to say something, only to be cut off by Commander Reith.

“We will see soon enough. There’s no use in arguing over it now.” He said diplomatically. Commander Cho and Commander Lofton shared a look before he shrugged.

“Fine. What do you expect this will prove?”

“My hypothesis.” Doctor Cho said confidently. “Now, this is what will happen…”

~~~~~

“So, what are we waiting for? What are we doing?” Black asked. They’d been waiting in the weapons room in full gear for several minutes, none of them quite clear on what was going on.

“I assume something similar to last time. Although I admit, a free-for-all hardly seems the way to go if we’re supposed to impress these people. Commander Cho has something up her sleeve.” Peters predicted. Gabe made a suspicious noise and glared at the door to the combat room as though that alone would make it open.

“Training mode, protection. Simulation objective, prevent fatal shots on subject Jack Morrison for thirty minutes. Bot level, hard. Attack commences in sixty seconds.”

“Whoa, wait a minute, what the fuck is going on here?” Tully asked with a scowl.

“We’ve gotta keep Pretty Boy safe, apparently.” Gonzales said, eyeing Jack.

“Easy enough, I stay in front of him and we keep someone like Johnson behind him.” Harding said with a shrug.

“It makes the most sense for me to be near him, I’m the only one with weapons specifically designed for close combat.”

“You just want to be near Morrison.” Gonzales said lightly. “But it makes sense.”

“Attack commences in thirty seconds.”

“Shit, okay, so we stick to the plan. We remember what Gabe said. We keep the bots off Morrison.” Weiss summed quickly.

“Sounds good to me.” Kit agreed. There were a few more nods of agreement and a blank stare from Lister, who was already starting to slip into her more serious mindset. 

It was still creepy.

“Three…two…one…” The door slid open.

~~~~~

It was very obvious, from the first moment of the exercise, that ‘medium’ bots and ‘hard’ bots were very different. It was also very obvious that the soldiers were going to have to work as a team in order to succeed.

“Kit! Behind you!” Weiss hollered. Kit cursed and wheeled about, her pistol firing into the bot that had gotten dangerously close.  
“You guys, we need to move. More bots coming from the south. Western bots are falling back and regrouping.” Lister called from the top of the nearest building, where she had been perched for the few minutes the simulation had been active.

“Where are they the densest?” Gabe asked as he ducked behind Harding to reload.

“The south.” Lister answered. Gabe nodded, knowing she wouldn’t see the gesture, and glanced to Jack. “How are you doing?” He asked.

“Peachy.” Jack shot back with an attempt at a grin. It was cut short when his eyes widened. “Gabe!” Gabe turned on his heel and shot the head off of a bot before turning back to Jack and giving a lazy smile.

“Worried?”

“For you? No.” Jack snorted. “ _About_ you, maybe.”

“Cut the chit-chat and get moving.” Peters growled. Gabe sobered suddenly and nodded firmly.

“Right, let’s move. We need to find a place to hunker down. A dead end, an alley, a secure rooftop, something good. Lister, go find something and get back to us. Gonzales, you’re on dispersion. Get as many of the bots off of us as possible.”

“Got it.” Lister said, ghosting away from the edge so they could no longer see her.

“Oh, I like this plan.” Gonzales grinned, plucking a round bomb from one of her belts and bouncing it in her hand for a moment before ripping out the pin and lobbing it into a group of incoming bots. There was a moment of confused beeping and then parts were flying everywhere.

“Heads up!” Johnson shouted before firing his weapon.

“How long do you think it’ll take for Lister to get her ass back here?” Tully asked snarkily.

“Too long for my- Morrison!” Peters yelled, shoving Jack to the side just as a round from one of the bots flew past him.

“Holy shit, thanks.” Jack breathed.

“No problem.” Peters replied.

“Guys!” Lister shouted from above, her head poking over the edge of the roof. “I found something. Two buildings down that way there’s an alley. It’s open on both ends, but there’s a dumpster we can use to block one side.” Lister announced.

“Fine. Head over, we’ll meet you there.” Gabe shouted back up at her. She nodded and disappeared again. 

“What’s the plan? We can’t just walk down the street.” Harding said between waves of bots.

“I know.” Gabe paused and looked around, briefly making eye contact with Jack. He smiled and nodded encouragingly. “Alright, this is what we’re going to do.”

~~~~~

“They’re working well together.” Commander Cho said.

“Yes, but that doesn’t prove anything. Hundreds of thousands of squads work well together.” Commander Lofton said. Schwartz frowned.

“Commander, you don’t see it because you don’t understand it. I’m telling you that the blood and secretion tests show…”

“Speculations. Doctor Cho’s hypothesis has yet to be proven and until it is, it’s all speculation.” Commander Lofton said.

“Lofton, you can’t deny that they show the benchmark symptoms.” Reith said diplomatically.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that it’s _right_. Do you know how many people meet _some_ of the criteria? We cannot throw our lot in on this idea based on wild assumptions.” Lofton growled.

“I agree.” Doctor Cho said, surprising everyone. Lofton seemed startled for a moment but nodded. _See? Even she thinks so,_ he seemed to say. “There are several traits yet to be developed, and we don’t have the time to wait for them to show. If this is what we think it is…we need to act.”

“What do you recommend? It’s hardly possible to speed up trait expression.” Doctor Schwartz said curiously, head tilting slightly as she looked down at a data pad in her hands like looking at it more would make new information would appear.

“No, but we can force it.” Commander Cho said darkly. “I’ve seen it done before.” Her wife’s head whipped around to look at her.

“That is _dangerous_.” She hissed.

“It is more dangerous to let this continue unchecked if this is what we think it is.” Commander Cho countered.

“I agree. The benefit and assurance far outweighs the risk.” Doctor Schwartz said slowly. Doctor Cho looked at her, a bit scandalized, before finally sighing.

“Fine.” She said. Commanders Lofton and Reith exchanged a look before both nodding at Commander Cho. She silently stood and walked over to a manual control panel and typed out new instructions for the bots, finalizing the command with a single, decisive tap.

She hoped she was doing the right thing.

~~~~~

“Whoa, uh, do these bots seem like they’re getting a lot harder? Anyone?” Johnson asked.

“They’re trying to get over the dumpster!” Jack shouted. “Gabe, I’m going to use the rockets!”

“Hold on.” Gabe growled, shoving a shotgun straight into the chest of a bot and pulling the trigger, blasting a hole through the metal and wires. He turned and shoved his way past Tully to stand behind Jack, who was firing over the dumpster they had used to block the other end of the alley. He turned so that his back was braced against Jack’s.

“Go.” He said. There was a short laugh from Jack and then the deep sound of helix rockets firing. Gabe grunted as he was shoved forward about half a foot.

“Thanks Gabi.” Jack said, shooting him a brilliant smile. Gabe rolled his eyes.

“If you were anyone else I’d yell at you for calling me that.”

“Ah, but I am not anyone else and you love me.” Jack retorted.

“Hey, I hate to break up whatever gay shit is happening over there but we need Reyes.” Gonzales called.

“Gonzales, this’d better be good.” Gabe growled warningly.

“I’d call this pretty damn goo-AH!” Harding yelled.

“Thoracic shot on subject Harding. Critical injury. Exit the simulation.”

“Mother fucking, dick sucking, goddamn robot fucker.” Harding growled as she stalked past the bots, which were now ignoring her even as they swarmed toward the cornered soldiers. They were moving as one, purposefully and deliberately.

This was new.

“Shit, Jack I need you to get down. Cram yourself into the smallest corner possible.” Gabe ordered.

“I can’t shoot from there.” Jack complained.

“Just do it! Something’s wrong.” At that, Jack dropped to one knee, moving backwards until he felt his back foot pressed against the filthy dumpster.

“Whatever you say, I’ll just stay here.” Jack mumbled, clearly unhappy but willing to trust Gabe.

“Reyes!” Lister shouted, showing more emotion in that one word than in the entire rest of the simulation. “They have snipers!”

“Be better than them.” Gabe shouted back. Tully let out a sharp cry.

“Left leg shot on subject Tully. Crippling injury.” Tully screamed and collapsed to the ground, dropping both icepicks as her hands flew to her leg.

“Fuck me! Gabriel!” She screamed, tears of pain clouding her eyes. Gabe immediately shoved his way to crouch beside her.

“Cover us.” Gabe snapped to the others, the intense scent of an alpha worrying for a pack member filing the air.

“I’ve got you.” Peters said, stepping up so that he was standing in between the pair and the bots, firing at the bots coming at them.

“Tully, look at me. Alex, I said look at me.” Gabe said gently, trying to ignore the shouts of the others as they covered each other and fought off the oncoming bots. She blinked up at him and then grimaced, hands spasming over her leg.

“Let me see.” He said, pushing her hands away. The small dart that was used in place of bullets was generally enough to sting people sharply, a strike on the knuckles that would deter them from making mistakes. This dart, however, looked like it had bloomed or opened from the back, spreading across her pant leg. Occasionally it crackled with electricity and Tully groaned with pain.

“Okay, okay this is fine. I can’t stay with you so you’ll need to stay with Jack. Keep him safe and he’ll cover you. Jackie, get her.” Gabe called, turning to look at the blonde. Jack nodded firmly.

“I’ve got this. Go.” He urged, walking forward on his knees and grabbing her to drag her back into his corner. She cussed him out and swore she was going to cut her own leg off but stayed put as Gabe went back to the others.

“Tell me what’s going on.” Gabe demanded, back in business mode.

“We have two dozen moving in from the southeast, half that from the east.” Weiss supplied.

“Five snipers on the roofs.” Lister called evenly. A moment passed and a shot rang out. “Four.”

“Keep it up, keep the snipers off of us.” Gabe said. 

“They’re coming around again! I can hear them on the other side of the dumpster.” Jack said.

“Fucking fuck.” Black hissed. She whirled and started firing at the bots on the other side of the alley while Gabe and the others tried to wipe out the rest.

“We’ve got to be running out of time, we’ve just got to keep Golden Boy up until then, right?” Johnson asked.

“Yea, just keep them off of him for a little longer. Anyone have a watch by any chance?” Weiss joked.

“Bitch, do any of us look like we have a watch to you?” Kit complained.

“You kiss your kids with that mouth?” Ingleberg asked. Kit shot him a dirty look and kept shooting. There was a scream from above and Lister came flying off the edge of the roof, slamming into the top of the dumpster.

“Thoracic shot on subject Lister. Fatal injury. Exit the simulation.” Lister lay on top of the dumpster, gasping, eyes wide and unfocused as they stared up. Jack cursed and stood, dragging her down beside him and Tully.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked. She sucked in a huge lungful of air and went into a painful-sounding coughing fit.

“She just had the wind knocked out of her.” Peters said without looking away from what he was doing.

“That was a serious fall, something might be wrong.” Jack insisted.

“Something cracked.” Lister gasped out, voice hoarse.

“Subject Lister, exit the simulation. Abdominal shot on subject Ingleberg. Critical injury. Exit the simulation.”

“Shit!” Ingleberg snarled. He paused and then turned to look at Jack. “I can take her with me, we need to leave.”

“No. We can’t move her if she has a spine injury.” Jack said.

“But-“ Ingleberg started.

“Leave. We’re keeping Lister until the simulation is over and the medics can get her.” Gabe decided. Ingleberg looked at him for a moment before nodding.

“I’ll get the medics on standby.” He said before walking away.

“Head shot on subject Johnson. Fatal injury. Exit the simulation.”

“We’re dropping like fucking flies! Reyes, we need a plan.” Kit shouted. Gabe whirled around and looked at Jack, eyes wide. Tully was twitching and Lister lay unnaturally still, Jack between them watching over the two and looking right back at Gabe.

“Gabi, you need to tell us what to do.” Jack said. “Please.” Gabe straightened and nodded.

“Fall back. We need to-“

“Thoracic shot on subject Basara. Fatal in- Abdominal shot on subject Weiss. Critical injury. Exit the simulation.

“Fuck.” Kit hissed, kicking the ground before stalking away with Weiss on her heels, looking no more pleased than her about the situation.

“We’re running out of guns, Reyes.” Peters pointed out.

“I’m aware. Drop back, create a bottleneck out of the alley and keep us in front of Jack. He _is_ the objective. Don’t forget that.”

Jack suddenly cried out in pain and Gabe whipped around, guns already raised, looking for whatever had caused it.

“Right arm shot on subject Morrison. Crippling injury.” Jack’s cry turned into a scream and Gabe’s vision bled red around the edges. There was a bot leaning over the dumpster and with one twitch of Gabe’s finger its head was blown completely off of its body.

“Head shot on subject Black. Fatal injury. Exit the simulation.”

“I fucking get it, you robot piece of shit!” She screamed up at the ceiling.

Things went to shit very quickly after that. In the next ten seconds, everyone but Gabe, Jack, and Peters was declared ‘fatally injured’, including Tully. They backed up against the dumpster and Gabe placed himself directly in front of Jack, pressed so close that he could feel Jack’s breath. Jack cried out again, the sound loud in Gabe’s ear as the computer announced that he’d been shot in the foot.

“Gabe!” He screamed as electricity pulsed through the two darts embedded in him.

“Reyes, get your head out of the clouds.” Peters demanded. “I need help!” Gabe snarled and stood. Something inside of him was pushing him forward, blurring his vision, narrowing his mind down to one single thing.

_I must protect my omega._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun DUN
> 
> What dumb shit is Gabe gonna do? How will the Commanders and Doctors react? Who fucking knows?


	9. A Large Amount of Due Information

“Get Marianna transport to the med bay _now_.” Gabe snapped at Peters. He nodded and immediately sprinted away in the direction of the entrance. 

“Gabi, how do we check for a spinal injury?” Jack asked, hovering over Lister and letting his hands ghost over her without touching.

“I don’t fucking know, I’m not a goddamn doctor.” Gabe said. The air was filled with the sharp, acidic scent of fear. Jack couldn’t tell if it was his own or from one of the other two. He didn’t think it mattered whose fear it was, it still hung between all of them.

“I’m fine. I’m good.” Lister said, almost chanting it beneath her breath.

“Don’t be such a baby.” Gabe said with a thin, tight-lipped smile. Lister grinned and then winced.

“Fuck off, mom.” 

“How rude. Don’t talk to your mother that way.” Jack said with a smile.

“What does that make you? Dad?” Lister joked.

“Why’re we automatically married?” Gabe asked.

“You complaining about it?” Jack asked, nudging him with an elbow. Gabe scowled and was about to say something when Peters came barreling back around the corner.

“The doctors are coming. They all skipped out on cardio, apparently.” Peters said dryly. “How’re you doing?” He asked Lister.

“You’ve got eyes. You tell me.” Lister ground out.

“Out of the way. Move.” Doctor Cho said, pushing Jack and Gabe away from Lister as she and a few nurses knelt down next to Lister. Gabe snapped his teeth together loudly and growled, loudly letting his anger be known. One of the nurses, a beta by the smell of it, looked at him nervously.

“What are you doing to her?” Gabe snarled when Lister let out a gasp of pain as they slid a hard stretcher underneath her.

“You need to take a step back, Reyes.” Doctor Cho demanded.

“You don’t fucking tell me what to do when one of my pack mates is in pain.” Gabe growled darkly. Jack touched Gabe’s shoulder gently and his head turned to look at the blonde instantly.

“Can you help me get these darts out? Lister’s got plenty of good help.” Jack assured him. Gabe gave Lister another glance before nodding and turning his full attention to Jack.

“Hold still.” He said curtly but gently. He braced one hand on Jack’s shoulder and used the other to hold the dart. “Ready?” Jack nodded and Gabe ripped the dart out of his shoulder in one sharp move. Jack let out a sharp hiss between his teeth and Gabe smelled pain for a moment.

“Shush, be calm.” Gabe said soothingly. His voice unknowingly dropped into a reassuring alpha tone and Jack’s shoulders dropped as her relaxed a bit. “Isn’t there one in your foot, too?” Gabe asked.

“No, it only hooked onto the shoe and it got knocked off when I dragged Tully to the dumpster.” Jack told him. “What about you, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’re kind of putting off a ridiculous amount of scent.” Jack laughed softly. Gabe straightened slightly and he suddenly became aware of the intense waves of alpha pheromones he was putting off. Two of the nurses started a brief countdown and then lifted the stretcher with Lister on it while Doctor Cho followed them, barking orders all the while.

“Let’s go. I need some fucking food.” Gabe said, stretching his back out.

“It’s not even lunch time yet. You’ll get fat.” Jack warned. Gabe shot him a look and smirked.

“Do you see these thighs? I didn’t get these by skipping meals or letting myself get fat.” Gabe said, making a slight gesture down to his thighs, as though to prove his point. Jack laughed and shook his head.

“I guess I can’t argue with that. But how are you going to get food if lunch isn’t being served yet?”

“Lunch is probably soon. I can wait.” Gabe decided as he and Jack started walking back to the entrance. Jack hefted his gun up onto his shoulder, tilting his head slightly.

“I thought you were desperate to get some food in you.”

“Good soldiers have enough discipline to wait an hour for something as simple as food.” Gabe countered. They entered the weapons room and racked their guns as they talked, joking and poking fun at each other before opening the other door to head out and find the others. Unfortunately, when they opened the door none of the other subjects were there to greet them.

“Morrison, Reyes, you need to come with me.” A woman in a pencil skirt said. Her hair was pinned up in a messy bun and she wore thick-rimmed glasses, which rested high on the bridge of her nose.

“Who are you?” Gabe asked, straightening slightly.

“My name is Doctor Schwartz. I am here from one of the other experiment sites and I would appreciate it if you could reserve all other questions until I’ve explained everything to you.”

“Explained what? I don’t understand what’s going on here.” Jack said, looking at Gabe for a moment to confirm that he was just as lost as Jack.

“Just come with me, please. I’m here with Doctor and Commander Cho, as well as Commanders Lofton and Reith. We have concerns and information related to the both of you.” Jack and Gabe exchanged a look, a shrug, and then looked back at her.

“Lead on, Doctor Schwartz.” Gabe said. She gave a closed-lip smile and turned on her heels, walking away at a brisk pace. Gabe and Jack started walking after her and she led them a few doors down before stopping in front of a door with the words SECURITY LEVEL THREE printed on the front in bold red letters. She typed in a passcode on the digital pad next to the door and the lock clicked open. She pushed it open and held the door for the two men following her, letting them go through and then shutting it before taking the lead again. She led them down another hall and through a door without a lock on it. Through that door was a room with a wide window on one side that overlooked the simulation area, video feeds lining another wall. There was a large table in the middle of the room, around which sat Doctor Cho and two men. They all stopped talking and looked up at the trio as they entered. 

Gabe didn’t like the flash of pity that crossed Commander Cho’s face.

“Subjects Morrison and Reyes. Sit down.” One of the men said. Doctor Schwartz gave them a quick smile and took a seat next to the man that hadn’t spoken. Jack and Gabe slowly sat in the two seats in front of them.

“You wanted to see us?” Gabe asked, back straight and tone serious.

“Yes. My name is Commander Reith, and I will be asking the two of you a few questions.” The same man told them.

“Ask away, sir.” Jack said. Gabe nodded his agreement and Commander Reith stared at them, fingers tented underneath his chin. There was a long pause before he spoke again, none of the others speaking for him.

“Do you two know each other?” He asked.

“Sir, is this a trick question?” Gabe asked a bit too dryly.

“Don’t be a smartass, Reyes.” Commander Cho said without bite.

“We know each other, sir.” Jack said before Gabe could say something stupid.

“Were you ever in contact with each other before meeting at the airport just before being transported to the Enhancement Program?” Commander Cho asked.

“No, and we didn’t talk to each other until we were in our room together, you can check with the other soldiers to confirm that.” Gabe said.

“We will. We will also be checking security footage and we will be redoing the background checks on both of your families.”

“Excuse me, sir. What’s going on that you’re redoing background checks on our families? Have we done something wrong?” Jack asked.

“Gabriel Reyes is displaying the symptoms of a rare condition that may affect the outcome of the program.” Doctor Schwartz said. “The display of symptoms does not trace back before your introduction to the program, which has led the medical staff to believe that something here has triggered the change.”

“What condition?” Gabe asked darkly. Instead of answering, Commander Cho stood and walked to the wall with the video feeds.

“Reyes, what happened down there in the simulation?” She asked.

“I protected the people around me as best I could.” Gabe said stiffly. Jack nodded, glancing at Gabe for a moment before looking back at Commander Cho.

“Hm.” She hummed. She ran a finger over the screen and tapped it a few times. Suddenly the screen changed and it showed a feed of the simulation they had been in just fifteen minutes ago.

Jack was screaming, Gabe hunched over in front of him. Peters yelled about needing help and everyone in the room heard Gabe growl as he rose up, stalking down the alley past Peters. He was heading straight towards the bots, seemingly unaware or uncaring of the risk he was taking.

“Die, die, die!” They heard him snarl as he shot at anything in his line of sight. He twisted and whirled out of the way of the darts being shot at him and it created a small tornado of crunching metal and flying bullets. 

Commander Cho pressed a finger to the screen and it froze. She turned and looked at Gabe and Jack, meeting their eyes for a few seconds each before speaking.

“This was not trained behavior, this was aggressive protective behavior not typically seen in trained professionals.” She said. “Can you see why this would concern us?”

“With all due respect, ma’am, that was the behavior of an alpha protecting an injured pack mate.” Jack said.

“Except that this behavior was not instigated by a pack mate being put under duress, it was instigated by a near stranger getting shot with nonlethal darts.” Commander Lofton interjected.

“Stranger?” Gabe asked. He was clearly annoyed by the entire situation and it looked like he was losing patience.

“What does this have to do with the condition you mentioned earlier?” Jack interrupted.

“This sort of aggressive behavior, paired with previously reported symptoms, has led us to believe that Reyes is a dominant alpha.” Doctor Schwartz said. There was silence for a moment before Gabe laughed.

“Are you serious? I’m an alpha. That’s it.” He said.

“Reyes, the fact is that we have had Doctor Schwartz, Doctor Cho, and several onsite medical staff confirm the diagnosis.” Commander Reith said seriously. “This is not a theory. It is a statement.”

“Gabe?” Jack asked after a moment. Gabe just shook his head, and Jack understood what he meant. _Not now_.

“Now, the real question is why you only displayed once you came here.” Commander Lofton said.

“I don’t know.” Gabe replied. “But I have a feeling you expected that answer.”

“I have a feeling you have a theory.” Jack added.

“We do. We will need confirmation, however.” Commander Lofton said.

“If you two have anything to say, anything to admit, anything you think would help us, you should say it now.” Doctor Schwartz pushed gently.

“I don’t know any more than you do. In fact, I have a feeling you’re holding out on us.” Gabe said.

“We don’t owe you any information, but you owe us the truth. If you know or suspect something you need to tell us.” Commander Cho said. She was losing patience with this little meeting, just like Gabe was.

“We don’t know anything else. We’ve reported everything to Doctor Cho down in medical.” Jack said, cutting in before Gabe could. He knew that if Gabe kept getting these roundabout answers he’d snap.

The commanders and Doctor Schwartz looked at each other for a moment before looking back at the men under their scrutiny.

“Doctor Schwartz, take them down to the med bay and run them through the tests with Doctor Cho.” Commander Reith finally said, clearly dismissing them. 

“Follow me, please.” Doctor Schwartz said as she stood and started walking back toward the door. Gabe and Jack exchanged a look and stood as well.

“Yes, sir.” They said at the same time, training taking over despite the odd situation. The pair silently walked back down the hall after Doctor Schwartz and through the security, back into the area just outside the weapons room.

Doctor Cho met them by the med bay doors, hands shoved in the front pockets of her lab coat.

“Ah, there you are. I was starting to worry that the commanders were keeping you.” She said.

“No, just putting on a show of bureaucratic bullshit.” Doctor Schwartz sighed.

“Good. Now, Reyes and Morrison, we’re going to be testing the both of you for several different things. I would appreciate your cooperation.”

“I assume we don’t get to know what you’re testing for? Or what this has to do with your decision that I’m a dominant alpha?” Gabe asked, voice bordering on a growl.

“Mister Reyes, please calm down. I will answer any questions that I can once we get started.”

“Bullshit.” Gabe bit out. “You don’t tell us jack shit around here.” The sharp vinegar scent of anger filled the air and while Doctor Schwartz and Cho didn’t seem thrown off by it, it took Gabe back for a second. It wasn’t his, it was coming from Jack. How did the other two not seem to notice that? How did _Gabe_ notice that? Jack was wearing scent blockers, like he had every day since Gabe had known him.

“I understand that you must be frustrated, but we will explain as best we are allowed to once we are in private.” Doctor Schwartz promised. Jack gave a tight, closed-lip smile and if Gabe couldn’t smell his intense anger he’d say that Jack was only mildly irked.

“Alright, let’s go then.” Jack said.

“Thank you. This way.” Doctor Cho said, showing them into the med bay and past the area they were usually in to a series of backrooms that looked like offices. As they passed by nurses and other medical staff, Gabe and Jack could both feel their eyes on them. Gabe took half a step closer to Jack.

Doctor Cho opened the door to a room filled with medical equipment and let the others in, closing the door behind her as she stepped in as well.

“I understand that you both have questions.” She started as Doctor Schwartz closed the blinds on all the windows in the room.

“No shit. How long have you known I was a dominant alpha?” Gabe asked.

“For several days now. I trust that you were unaware of your status before now.” Doctor Cho said, gesturing for them to sit of the examination table.

“Of course. Do you seriously think I’d risk lying on a federal form?” Gabe asked incredulously as he and Jack sat side-by-side on the table, close enough that their thighs were touching despite the fact that there was plenty of room on the table for them to move apart a bit. The conversation paused for a moment as the alert for lunch went off.

“Taylor, could you send a nurse to get their food?” Doctor Cho asked Doctor Schwartz before turning back to the men as the other doctor ducked out of the room.

“I don’t understand why you’re testing me when he’s the one that you’re all so worried about.” Jack said. “I’m fairly certain that, as an omega, I can’t share his _condition_ , as you put it.”

“You have been living and working closely with Reyes this entire time through his presentation, we need to make sure that it hasn’t had any adverse effects on you.” Doctor Cho said calmly as she began preparing various medical equipment.

“It hasn’t.” Jack said dryly.

“Nevertheless, I will be running tests on both of you. Reyes, have you experienced anything unusual since our last discussion?”

“No.” The door opened and Doctor Schwartz slipped in, two covered trays stacked on top of each other in her arms. Doctor Cho only glanced up for a second before going back to her work.

“Thank you, just set them to the side for now. They can eat after we’re done here.” Doctor Cho said. The other doctor nodded and set the trays down on a table before fiddling with more equipment. They both picked up some sort of recording device and clipped it to their lab coats, looking at each other and exchanging a nod before tapping a button.

“Begin oral documentation of subject Reyes’ examination by Doctor Cho, time… twelve o’ seven.”

“Beginning of subject Morrison’s exam documentation by Doctor Schwartz at twelve o’ seven.” They said, no longer paying attention to each other as they delved into their work.

~~~~~

“This is bullshit.” Jack growled as they sat in the canteen and uncovered their trays. Everyone else had long left, leaving them to their own company as they sat across from each other and fumed.

“Yea, it really is.” Gabe said, frowning. He took the cheese-covered mashed potatoes off of his tray and swapped them for Jack’s strawberries without asking and Jack took an immediate bite of his additional potatoes.

“This is…this is…fuck! Who gives a shit what you are? I’m an omega, and here I am!” Jack exclaimed, face going red with his renewed anger.

“I’m worried, man. Who knows what they’ll do about this?” Gabe muttered.

“They can’t do anything.” Jack told him confidently, before pausing. “Can they?”

“I don’t know. Obviously dominant alphas are allowed in the military, but this is an exclusive program. An experiment. No one knows how this is going to fuck with their results and I don’t know what they’ll do about that. They could kick me out. They could kick me out of the military all together if they think I hid this from them.”

“Well, you didn’t. So they can suck my dick and kiss my ass if they try to touch you over something as stupid as your presentation.” Jack growled. Gabe paused in eating long enough to offer him a wry smile.

“Omegas are supposed to be the calmest bunch out of all of us.” He noted.

“That’s a stereotype.” Jack said, pointing his fork at Gabe. “Within my body I contain the fury of a thousand red suns.”

“Oh, I’m aware. I just think it’s funny that the big, scary _dominant alpha_ ,” He said, puffing up his chest and deepening his voice comically before letting it go back to normal. “, is afraid and the omega is angry.”

“I guess that’s why we’re such good friends. We take turns being irrational.” Jack said with a smile. Gabe rolled his eyes but felt his chest untighten slightly.

“Yea, I guess so.” He said. He was about to say something else and then…

“Holy shit! What happened to you guys? We’ve all been worried sick! Kit nearly had an aneurysm and Peters can’t sit still for the life of him.” Gonzales said as she collapsed into the seat next to Gabe.

“Gloria, it’s good to see you. We haven’t talked to anyone since the sim, what happened?” Jack said, easily switching gears and conversations.

“You tell me! All anyone knows is that when Peters left, you two were still there. At lunch, you weren’t. We all looked for you but we couldn’t find you.”

“Yea…we had a bit of a fuck-up. Once we finish eating we’ll go to the rec room and I’ll tell you about it.” Gabe assured her.

“It’d better be a good story. I think Kit might kill you.” Gloria warned them.

“Trust me, it’s good.” Gabe said.

~~~~~

“Wait a minute, you’re telling me that the reason for all of this, is that you’ve presented as a damn _dominant alpha_?” Kit asked incredulously. She, Gloria, Peters, and Weiss had all been sitting, captivated with the tale Gabe had woven for them.

“Yup. They seem to think that this is some big-ass deal and they’re trying to figure out what made him present, cause he sure as hell wasn’t a dominant alpha when we showed up.” Jack said.

“Well, I guess I don’t feel as bad about you dominating me.” Gloria acquiesced a bit reluctantly.

“About him dominating the _entire room_.” Weiss stressed.

“Why did they test you, Jack?” Peters asked. Jack tapped his chin with one finger thoughtfully as he answered.

“You know, I wondered the same thing. I guess it’s just because I’m an omega and we’ve been spending a lot of time together. Maybe they wanted to see if it made a difference on me somehow? I don’t know.”

 

“Yea, that would make the most sense.” Peters agreed. There was silence for a moment before Kit spoke.

“Wait, what?”

“I mean, it makes sense, right? As far as I’m aware there’s no- oh. You meant about me being an omega.” Gabe straightened slightly.

“How did we not notice that you’re an omega?” Weiss asked, sounding genuinely curious and not at all antagonistic.

“Scent blockers.” Jack said, tapping one on his wrist. “And it helps that people have stereotypes of omegas being meek and fragile and small or whatever. No one looks at me and goes ‘that guy’s an omega’.” He explained.

“Well, I’m impressed.” Gloria announced. “I had no idea even when I was right in the middle of my rut.” 

“I’ve gotten good at hiding it. You never know who’s gonna make my life hell because they think I’m less reliable just because I have heats instead of ruts.”

“You two don’t seem surprised at all.” Weiss said, looking at Gabe and Peters.

“I already knew.”

“I live with him.” Peters and Gabe said at the same time. Gabe looked at Peters a bit incredulously and he shrugged.

“Like I said, my sister’s an omega. She told me a few of her tricks.”

“That bit of information aside, this is all bullshit. What are they going to do if they decide they don’t want you in the program? Drop you? Kick you out? That throws off their numbers _and_ their results because, even if you’re an outlier, you’re part of the experiment. They’ll fuck themselves if they try to touch you.” Kit said adamantly.

“It doesn’t matter. No matter what they decide I have no choice but to go with it.” Gabe told them. The group was quiet for a minute before Jack spoke.

“This sucks.” He said. The others agreed.

~~~~~

Word of Jack’s presentation as an omega spread quickly. By dinner it was old news, and to Gabe’s immense relief most of the other subjects took the revelation in stride, understanding his fears.

Most.

Ingleberg and Johnson both kept shooting Jack glances out of the corner of their eyes throughout the meal. Ingleberg seemed wary and suspicious. Johnson just looked confused.

It set Gabe on edge. He constantly had a growl built up in the back of his throat and he found himself making eye contact with the two men much more often than was strictly necessary. The first few times they would hold gazes for several seconds before whoever Gabe was staring at blinked and looked away. After that they started purposefully skimming over his gaze, knowing the signs of an alpha itching for a challenge.

Jack nudged their legs together early in the meal, keeping their thighs firmly pressed against each other. It calmed them both. The contact kept Gabe from going crazy with nerves and it gave Jack something else to focus on other than the stares of the two men. Even with their little distraction, it was hard to be unaffected by the worried chatter of the others. No one knew what was going to happen and it had them all on edge, albeit for varying reasons.

~~~~~

“Gabe?” Jack asked from the open door of the bathroom as he brushed his teeth. Gabe, who was lying flat on his back staring at the bottom of Jack’s bed, turned his head to look at him.

“Yea, Jackie?”

“No matter what, we’ve got each other’s backs.” He mumbled around the frothy toothpaste in his mouth. Gabe furrowed his brow and rolled over onto his side so he was facing the bathroom fully.

“Yea, but where’s this coming from? You alright?” He asked. Jack’s vigorous brushing slowed.

“I’m nervous.” He finally said before spitting out the paste into the sink and rinsing his mouth.

“About what?”

“I don’t know. Everything. Nothing’s going the way I thought it would.” Jack said with a sharp shake of his head. He flipped off the light and Gabe heard him climb up into his bunk as Gabe thought about what to say.

“We’ll be fine.” He finally said. Jack hummed lightly but said nothing in return. A heavy silence fell over the room and after several minutes Gabe grunted, shifting in bed. Then shifted again. And again. He flipped his pillow. He pushed his blanket down to his waist. Pulled it back up to his chest. After several more minutes he let out a growl of frustration and sat up, giving his pillow a few sharp jabs.

“Can’t sleep, I take it?” Jack asked in a hushed tone, a hint of amusement in his voice. Gabe growled half-heartedly. Jack feigned a heavy sigh and there was a creaking sound as he climbed down from his bunk.

“Morrison, what are you doing?” Gabe asked, voice equally low.

“Oh, back to last names, are we? Scoot over, Reyes.”

“Why am I…?”

“Just shut up and move!” Jack laughed from the darkness beside the lower bunk. Gabe grumbled unhappily but did as he was told. A second passed and then there was a second person pressing right up against Gabe in the bed meant, very clearly, for one person.

“Jackie, what the fuck?” Gabe laughed as they struggled to fit against each other.

“Here, hold still.” Jack said. Gabe felt him adjust them a bit. “Okay. All done.” They weren’t perfectly slotted against each other, and there were a few minute adjustments, but it was…nice.

“So, not that I’m complaining about having a blonde in my bed, but why did you do this?” Gabe asked, amused.

“Just hold still for a minute.” Jack told him. Gabe obediently quieted and let himself lay still next to the other man. He actually felt his eyes start to drag closed after a while.

“I can’t tell if I just haven’t had enough human contact lately or if you drugged me, but this is really nice.” Gabe admitted. Jack huffed, warm air tickling against the side of Gabe’s face.

“It’s because I’m an omega. We balance and calm each other just by touching.”

“Oh, I see. So _that’s_ why you suddenly started liking me. You needed cuddles.” Gabe teased.

“Shut the fuck up.” Jack laughed. “Just be quiet and go to sleep.” Gabe chuckled but obeyed, letting a much easier silence lay over them as they calmed each other enough for them to both fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've waited over 31K words just to write this last scene. This is possibly the slowest burn I've ever done and even I just want them to fuck at this point.


	10. A Need for Lollipops

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot longer than it should be already, and I'm not entirely happy with where it ends but if I didn't cut it there it was going to end up at somewhere around nine thousand words, so I've cut it into two chapters for both of our sakes.

Have you ever woken up perfectly content? Have you ever been so satisfied first thing in the morning that waking up doesn’t feel like waking up at all, rather the continuation of a dream? That’s what Gabe experienced the next day. 

He wasn’t quite sure when he actually woke; he only knew that Jack was partially laying on him, one arm curled up to cushion his own head, the other thrown over Gabe’s middle. Gabe was calm. He was perfectly at peace and wouldn’t have minded staying in that tiny, cramped bed with his omega for the rest of the day.

 _Wait_.

 _His_ omega?

Gabe’s eyebrows drew together sharply in confusion. Where the fuck did that come from? It wasn’t even the first time he’d had that thought, Gabe realized. He’d had the exact same thought before, during the simulation. What was he thinking? He couldn’t have thoughts like that. He couldn’t. He couldn’t ruin this friendship just because he…shit. He was fucked.

Just as Gabe started to truly panic the morning alarm went off, making him jump slightly. Jack groaned and shoved his face into Gabe’s neck.

“Turn it off.” He moaned. Gabe smirked and nudged him a bit to get free.

“Wake up.” Gabe said as he climbed over Jack to get to the bathroom. They’d long ago fallen into that pattern, Jack always getting the bathroom second due to his slow pace.

As Gabe finished up washing his hands and wet his toothbrush he heard a knock on the bathroom door. Curious, he opened it before going right back to his morning routine. He saw Jack through the mirror and watched as he leaned against the door frame, already dressed. Jack smiled at him and crossed his arms over his chest, totally relaxed. 

“I don’t know about you, but I slept very well.” Jack said with a self-satisfied grin. Gabe shrugged and gave a half-hearted hum around his toothbrush. Jack faked a stumble, clutching a hand to his heart.

“Ah, I’m hurt.” Jack said. Gabe laughed and rinsed out his mouth and his brush, sticking them in the little holder provided before turning to Jack fully.

“I actually slept really well. I can’t imagine how, considering that tiny-ass bed was absolutely not made for two people.”

“Ah, hold on, I need to find a way to record this.” Jack said. Gabe raised an eyebrow. “Cause you know, this is a miracle. No one’s gonna believe it actually happened.” Jack explained.

“What miracle is happening, exactly?”

“You admitting you’re wrong.” Jack said with a bright grin. Gabe held up a finger.

“I never said I was wrong. Just that you were right. There’s a difference.” Jack looked at him for a moment before shrugging, grin never wavering.

“I’ll take what I can get. Now move, I need to piss.”

“Anything for you.” Gabe chuckled as he walked back into the bedroom, freezing just as Jack closed the door. What the hell? _Anything for you_? Who the fuck says that? Not Gabe. Gabriel Reyes was a soldier. A man who had been called cold-hearted more times than he cared to remember. So why has he suddenly found it so damn hard to keep to his usual professional demeanor around Jack?

Looking toward the bathroom door, Gabe had the briefest thought that perhaps it wasn’t too late. He could shut himself off. Grow distant. Eventually Jack would get the hint and leave him alone. He’d done it to people before, he’d even done it to people he’d once been close with. But the thought of doing it to Jack suddenly made his chest tighten and his breathing came a little too quickly. He needed to see Jack.

Gabe’s feet crossed the space to the door in no time at all and his hand was opening the door before he could tell himself to stop, showing him a very confused Jack looking up at him from the sink, his hands covered in soap and under a stream of hot water.

“Uh, hi?” He half said and half asked, his lips twisting up slightly at the ends.

“Hi.” Gabe said dumbly.

“Did you need something?”

“I just…I…no, nothing.” Jack flicked the water off of his hands and turned the faucet off, turning to Gabe with a frown.

“Are you sure? You can tell me if something’s going on.” Jack said, clearly concerned.

“I’m fine. Just…hungry.” Gabe said. Jack raised his eyebrows, a smirk fighting its way onto his face.

“Well I guess I’ll have to hurry.” He gave Gabe one last look before quickly brushing his teeth as Gabe changed clothes and they both headed out to the mess to get breakfast.

~~~~~

“This isn’t right. This is inhumane. I want out.” Weiss said loudly.

“What’s going on?” Gabe asked as he and Jack sat down.

“Don’t mind him, he’s been bitching like this for five minutes.” Gloria said, head propped up in one hand, elbow on the table as she watched the man rant.

“Look at this!” Weiss practically shouted, stabbing a fork into a pile of eggs that were shoved onto one side of his plate.

“You just insulted some poor chicken’s hard work.” Jack said absently.

“Do you want my grapes? I hate green ones.” Gabe asked Jack. He nodded and swapped it for his bowl of strawberries without saying anything as Gloria spoke to Weiss.

“What, exactly, is the problem here?” She asked.

“This is just salt and pepper! There’s no ketchup, no mustard, no cheese, or relish. Nothing!”

“Please tell me you don’t put all those on at the same time.” Gabe said with a cringe.

“It’s damn delicious.” Weiss told him, pointing his fork at him to help make his point.

“I think I ate that once when I was pregnant. It made me vomit all over the place. Like _all_ over. Marnie thought it was hilarious.” Kit said.

“What’s it like, having kids?” Gloria asked curiously.

“It’s…complex. I love them more than I could ever say, but I still want to take a week-long vacation with Marnie and absolutely no children sometimes.” Kit laughed.

“Tell us about Marnie.” Lister urged. “How did you two meet?”

“Ah, funny story. You see, she’s a field medic. I was on a training mission in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere and some dumbass managed to set off a grenade too close to us. I got shrapnel stuck in my ass cheek.”

“Oh Gods!” Lister screeched, stomping the ground in delight as her voice broke off into loud laughter. Gabe and Weiss were both laughing and Gloria was laughing so hard it was completely silent.

“So I show up at the medical tent,” Kit said breathily, laughing along with all of the other soldiers, “, and the first thing I see is this _super_ hot brunette doctor and I’m just praying that I don’t get her because no one wants to be seen with shrapnel in their ass. Especially by someone so damn gorgeous! So I get carted onto one of the beds and told to lie on my stomach. You know, it’s one of those big open tents with _zero_ privacy. Cots are lined up in rows with barely three feet between ‘em and there I am, a nurse cutting my pants off of me, and the hot doctor walks up.”

“Was your underwear at least cute?” Gloria asked seriously. 

“At that point, my underwear was covered in blood and dirt.” Kit laughed. “And the nurse cut it off with my pants, anyway. I think it took her three or four hours to get all the pieces out of my ass and we talked the entire time. By the end of it I had her number and email. I didn’t have any way to contact her until I got back from training, but after that we dated for three and a half years before she proposed.”

“You know, I bet she thought you were a nun at first.” Lister said seriously, fingers curled underneath her chin. Seeing the blanks looks that she was getting, she continued. “You know, because you were so holey.” Jack immediately snorted and Gabe laughed so hard there were tears clinging to his bottom lashes.

“That was fucking dumb as shit.” Weiss laughed. Gloria wasn’t making any noise again, and it looked like she hadn’t taken a breath in almost twenty seconds.

“God, it was possibly the worst way to meet. But it worked out.” Kit said with a happy little smile as she cut her omelet.

“What about you, Lister? You said you had a mate, right?” Weiss asked. He’s evidently gotten over his aversion to the eggs and was eating them, albeit a bit reluctantly.

“Oh my Gods, yes. His name is Ivan and he’s my true mate.” Lister said proudly.

“Damn.” Gloria said, eyes wide.

“Yea, it’s pretty amazing. You know, having your true mate is like…it’s like being whole. Like you’ve got something special with this one person that no one else could ever understand. I thank the gods every day that I’m with him because now that I have him, I can’t imagine ever going back to being alone.” Lister said, obviously happy and excited just to be talking about her mate. It gave Gabe a faint sense of sadness and longing that he didn’t really understand, making him look at Jack. Jack was already looking at him, however, and they shared small smiles. They both suddenly felt a little less sad, though neither of them said so out loud.

“Oh shit, the betas.” Weiss said before shoving as much food into his mouth as he could fit.

“Slow down, you’re going to choke, idiot.” Gabe warned. Weiss, completely unconcerned, ignored him. And promptly gagged as he choked on a piece of food.

“He told you.” Jack hummed.

“You know, if I didn’t know any better I’d think you two were mates.” Kit said as she stood and stretched out her back. Jack turned and looked at Gabe with a small smirk.

“Wanna see if we can sign mateship papers on a secret base?” He asked jokingly. As soon as he said it, however, he felt an instant sense of anticipation for the answer. Gabe shrugged and stood from the table, prompting Jack to do so as well as they began filing out of the mess.

“Sure, only if you stay away from my soap.”

“We’ve been sharing soap just fine.” Jack pouted.

“Yes, because it’s dumb soap. It’s not mine, so I don’t mind.” Gabe explained as he and Jack absently started walking toward the med bay. They’d already been reminded that it was an experiment day.

“What kind of soap do you usually use?” Jack asked curiously. “It must be special if you’re so protective of it and keep threatening to fight people over it.”

“It’s organic, lavender and avocado scented. No sulfites, eco-friendly, and really expensive.” Jack looked at him oddly and he sighed.

“What?”

“That’s…never mind.”

“You were about to say that it’s not what you expected.” Gabe said wryly. “This is turning into a pattern.”

“I stopped myself.” Jack defended.

“You did.” Gabe acknowledged with a small laugh. They were comfortably quiet the entire way to the med bay and they settled into their chairs, letting the nurses set up their IVs.

“Ingleberg, what’s your favorite dessert?” Gabe suddenly asked. The other man looked at him, a bit startled, and Jack gave him an odd look.

“Um, my brother’s blueberry cobbler, I guess. Why?”

“Tell me about it.” Gabe pushed, pausing to glance down at his arm as the nurse slid the needle into a vein.

“My little brother makes it, Elijah, he’s a professional chef up in D.C. It’s got this super sweet crumble top and when you cut into it juice just _dribbles_ …ow!” Ingleberg hissed, glancing accusatorily at the nurse who’d just inserted the needle under his skin. The nurse shrugged and gave him a small smile before wandering to the next person.

“Didn’t even feel that bad, did it?” Gabe asked him with a satisfied, but not smug, smile.

“I wanna be mad that you tricked me, but I’m kind of happy it worked.” Ingleberg admitted.

“I didn’t trick you, just distracted.” Gabe defended. Jack stifled a laugh at the slightly scandalized look Ingleberg gave Gabe for that before gasping as his nurse started the IV.

“Holy shit, this is so cold! What is this stuff?” Jack exclaimed, looking to the nurse. He shrugged.

“I can’t tell you. If you move too much it might make you motion sick, though.” The nurse warned.

“Thanks for the heads up.” Jack said. The nurse nodded and turned to help someone else. Ingleberg was talking to Black, and he noted that he was referring to her as Katelin. _They must have gotten close._

“Hey, Gabi?” Jack asked, letting his head fall to the side so he could look at the alpha straight on.

“Yea, Jack?” Gabe asked, mirroring the motion.

“How old are you?”

“Twenty six, you?”

“Twenty four. How long have you been in the military? I started at eighteen, so I’ve been in for almost six years.”

“Six years now, too. When I got out of high school a semester early and I immediately went to community college and got a two-year degree to be a physical therapy assistant. I only spent about six months in that job before I realized I hated it. I joined the military as soon as I could and here I am.” Gabe said, sweeping his arms wide to indicate their surroundings. A nurse walked by and smacked his arm, pushing it back down to the rest it had been on.

“Don’t jostle the IV.” She warned. He nodded and then looked at Jack, who was desperately trying to keep from smiling.

“Don’t jostle your IV.” Gabe said seriously. That did it, and Jack started laughing immediately. Ingleberg shot him an odd look before going back to his conversation with Katelin, who was calling him Thomas, _what the fuck_. Gabe bristled at Ingleberg but the other alpha didn’t seem to notice, so he turned back to Jack reluctantly.

“He’s just not used to the idea of me being an omega. He’ll get over it in a few days.” Jack assured him with a thin smile. This wasn’t the first time this had happened to him, after all. Gabe pieced that together and instantly felt his eyes narrow. He didn’t like the idea of people treating Jack differently just because of his presentation.

“You’re getting tense.” Jack said gently.

“No I’m not.” Gabe told him, raising his chin slightly. Jack raised an eyebrow and smirked at him.

“You smell upset.” He said. Gabe’s eyes widened the tiniest bit and he glanced around subtly. No one else seemed to smell what Jack did, but Jack was dead serious.

“Jack, how did you feel yesterday when we got to the med bay, when we were talking to the docs?” Gabe asked suddenly. Jack’s face instantly soured.

“I was pissed the fuck off. Why?” Gabe glanced around and lowered his voice before answering.

“Because I could smell it, Jack.”

“You…really?” Jack asked, eyes wide with disbelief. “That shouldn’t be possible, are my scent blockers not working? I swear I change them every day, I toss the old ones and I put new ones on all of my scent glands. All six, every day.”

“Calm down, they work. No one else noticed, right? Think about it. Neither of the doctors said anything, or any of the other medical staff we passed while you were still angry. And look around now.” Gabe prompted, Jack’s eyes immediately sliding around the room. “No one else is reacting to me. The nurses aren’t avoiding me, the other soldiers aren’t looking at me funny. Something’s going on and it’s just going on with the two of us.” Jack frowned and seemed to think for a moment before speaking.

“I mean, why would…?”

“Jackie, your nose is bleeding.” Gabe interrupted, suddenly leaning forward, concern written across his face. Jack raised a hand to his upper lip and touched a few fingers to it, pulling away and looking at the digits. Sure enough, the tips were covered with a small amount of blood.

“Huh. Think that’s normal?” Jack joked.

“Nurse!” Gabe called loudly. Almost the entire room turned to look at him instantly and two nurses seemed to materialize by his chair, asking what was wrong and what he needed. “It’s Jack. He’s bleeding, help him, please.” Gabe pressed. One of the two pulled a box of tissues from a nearby cart and began dabbing at Jack’s nose gingerly while the other stood in front of Gabe, hands hovering just in front of his shoulders as though afraid to touch him.

“Subject Reyes, please sit back in your chair.” She said.

“Is he okay? What’s going on?” He asked, starting to stand just so he could see over both her and the man cleaning up Jack.

“Reyes, you need to _sit down_.” She said firmly, finally putting her hands on him and shoving him back down into the seat.

“I’m fine, Gabi.” Jack called to assure him. His voice sounded nasally and muffled, like he was coming down with a bad cold. “I think it bled more when Gonzales hit me.” He joked. It was enough to make Gabe relax a bit and he finally settled back into his chair, waiting anxiously for the nurses to clear. When they did he immediately grinned.

“You look like you just lost a fucking fight.” Gabe laughed. Jack flipped him the bird with one hand, the other holding a blood-soaked tissue to his nose.

“Go fuck yourself, Gabe.” He laughed.

“But there’s no lotion here, my hands are so rough. Why don’t you blow me instead?”

“Ha, no thanks. Keep dreaming, though.” Jack laughed. Gabe shrugged. 

“One day you’ll come around.”

“I’ve heard that something’s happened?” An unfortunately familiar voice asked. Jack closed his eyes for a moment and suppressed the urge to groan before opening them again and smiling at Travis.

“Just a little nosebleed, nothing major.” Jack said with a brilliant smile, despite the flare of annoyance he felt. Travis gave him a quick once-over and pursed his lips slightly before typing something on his data pad.

“If you have any other adverse reactions let me know immediately.” He demanded before turning and sweeping away, off to fuck up someone else’s day.

“I am absolutely not going to talk to him voluntarily.” Gabe said as soon as he was out of earshot.

“I’m gonna have to agree with you.” Jack said with a firm nod. “He rubs me the wrong way.”

“Me too. It feels like he’s the kind of guy that’ll steal your kidneys and expect you to thank him for it.” Suddenly Gabe paled. “Bucket.” He said. When the word processed in Jack’s head he immediately scrambled to snag a bedpan from the nearest nurse’s cart and he shoved into Gabe’s hands. Gabe hunched over it and vomited until all that came up was yellow bile.

“Are you okay?” Jack asked, leaning as close to him as he could without dislodging the IV.

“I’m fine, just got really nauseous all of a sudden.” Gabe muttered. His headache was also building up again.

They were quiet for several minutes, each watching their IVs slowly empty themselves into their bloodstreams, before Jack spoke.

“I’m, like, really sore right now. I feel like I just ran a marathon.” He complained.

“We went through a lot of exercise yesterday. It’s probably just now catching up to you.” Gabe suggested without looking at Jack. He’d leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes to fend off the headache, not that it had done much.

“No, it’s…it’s like my muscles have been cooked. I feel limp.”

“Never had a dude say he was limp around me.” Gabe said with a wry smile.

“I’d think that was funnier if I didn’t feel like dying. Good joke, though.” Jack said. Gabe cracked open his eyes and glanced between their IV bags before closing his eyes again.

“We’re almost done.” He murmured. Jack watched as Peters was unhooked from his IV by a nurse. He’d long ago rolled up his pant legs and pushed his short shirt sleeves up as high as they would go. Every visible inch of skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and he was passed out cold. Tully volunteered to take him back to his room as she finished up, though she looked gaunt and pale. Once she was disconnected from the IV she toddled over to him and confidently lifted him, carrying him out of the med bay after a nurse held the door open for her.

“Tully just carried Peters out. Kit’s almost done. I think Weiss is passed out and having a nightmare. Katelin…she doesn’t look good. She’s shaking real bad.”

“How close are we?” Gabe asked, voice barely a whisper. Jack, using every measure of strength he had, managed to loll his head to the side and look at their IV bags.

“We’re done.” He said. At one point, he may have been happy about it, but then his voice just sounded hollow. He felt hollow.

“Yes, you are. Now hold still.” A nurse with a brisk voice told them. It wasn’t the same one from before. Jack thought it was the one that had hooked up Kit and Gloria, but he wasn’t certain. He didn’t care enough to really think about it.

The nurse slipped the needles out of their arms and swiped the area with a disinfectant wipe.

“Can you two make it to your room?”

“Yea.” Gabe said, answering for them both. They stood, a bit wobbly, and leaned against each other as they dragged themselves out of the med bay. 

~~~~~

The trek to their room seemed to take forever, and when they got their all they could do was collapse on the floor, not even managing to make it to Gabe’s bed.

“Gabi.” Jack whispered.

“Hm?”

“I’m cold.” There was a moment of stillness before Gabe reached up and pulled his blanket off of the bed, haphazardly throwing it over both Jack and himself. It was absolutely not comfortable on the hard floor, tangled up with each other in an odd, uncoordinated way, but they both fell asleep anyway.

~~~~~

Gabe woke feeling like someone had shoved cotton down his throat. He slowly extracted himself from Jack and crawled over to the group of water bottles that had miraculously appeared on the floor next to them while they slept. He cracked one open and downed it before he even realized what he was doing. He drank two more at a slightly slower pace and then stood up gingerly. He felt like shit. His head fucking hurt, and he was shivering even though he was sweating.

He needed to check on the others.

Gabe pushed the remaining water bottles closer to Jack and made sure he was really asleep before slipping out of their room. The first stop was to Gloria Gonzales and Marianna Lister. They were both awake, but Gloria looked feverish, and she seemed on the verge of consciousness. He pressed the back of a hand to her forehead and frowned.

“She’s too warm.” He croaked out. Marianna blinked at him blearily.

“What?”

“Gloria, she’s too warm. She has a fever.”

“It looks like you do, too.”

“Just make sure you both drink water. If it gets worse…”

“See Cho.” Marianna finished with a nod. “Got it. Thanks for checking in on us.”

Liam Peters and Ian Weiss were both fever free, though Peters was very unconscious. Weiss promised to take care of him when he woke up. Diego Johnson and Thomas Ingleberg were pale and a bit flushed, but not enough for Gabe to call it a true fever. He left them with instructions to drink water and rest. It looked like they needed it. Kit Basara had a fever, but Lisa Harding was wide awake and kind of pissed off at how weak she felt. Katelin Black was sitting in her underwear without her bra, sprawled out on her stomach on the floor when Gabe came to check on her and Alex Tully.

Gabe raised an eyebrow at Katelin and she looked up at him, completely miserable.

“It’s so damn hot, Gabriel.”

“You have a fever, you need to wait for it to break. I want you to drink two of those water bottles before lunch, do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.” She murmured into the floor.

“Alex, please make sure she does it. You both need rest, but you also need to keep an eye on each other.” Gabe said, turning to the one clothed woman in the room.

“Aye aye.” Tully said, half-heartedly giving a two-finger salute.

Gabe left them to their own devices and made his way back to his own room, exhausted again. That meant only three people had fevers. That wasn’t so bad. It certainly could have been a lot worse.

He went through his door and paused at the sight of an empty room, blanket left on the floor.

“Jack?” He called.

“One sec.” He heard from the bathroom. Relaxing instantly, Gabe shucked his shirt and pulled off his shoes. Katelin was right, it was _really_ hot. He opened another bottle of water and sipped at it as he sat on the edge of his bed, leaning against one of the supports that held up Jack’s. God, he was so tired. He was weary all the way down to his bones, making him feel heavy and sluggish. Now that he knew the others were all relatively okay, he didn’t feel the need to move. He never had to move again.

“Gabe, are you alright?” His eyes snapped open – when had they closed? – and he saw Jack kneeling in front of him, brow furrowed in concern.

“’M fine.” Gabe assured him. Jack’s frown deepened and he pressed their foreheads together. “What’re you doing?”

“My big brother always checked for fevers that way. Gabi, you’re burning up. You need to lie down and sleep some more. I think this round of meds really fucked you up.”

“No, I need…I need to stay awake. If the others…others…” Gabe said.

“Babe, you’re not making any sense. You need to sleep.”

“No, I…I…”

“I’ll check on the others. That’s what you’re worried about, right? I’ll make sure they’re okay.” Jack assured him. Gabe seemed to calm down at that and he nodded once, the motion turning into his chin drooping to his chest. Jack gently pushed him back to lay down and he complied easily. Jack moved to sit on the edge of his bed and ran a hand up and down Gabe’s thigh in a repetitive motion until he was finally lulled back into sleep.

Jack frowned at the way Gabe shook and sweated but he didn’t know what to do. He knew what his brother would have done, but he didn’t have access to the things he would need. He wasn’t sure he’d be allowed even if he could. Gabe whimpered in his sleep and Jack flinched, the sound unsettling him deeply.

“Shh, shh.” He cooed, hand moving up to rub circles on Gabe’s ribs. The skin-to-skin contact seemed to help and he settled down but Jack still sat with him. He kicked off his shoes and curled up on the bed with his knees to his chin, watching as the alpha struggled to find a peaceful sleep in his fever-addled state. Jack decided that he would wake him for lunch, but not before then. He needed his rest, and Jack would watch him until then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes. Gabe is actually really sick even if he doesn't want to admit it and Jack is really worried.


	11. Seeing Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What is up my dudes, I swear I'm not dead. Not yet. Just in the middle of finals.

“How do you feel?” Jack asked gently when Gabe roused after the lunch alert went off.

“Like shit.” Gabe told him honestly as he sat up. He licked his lips a bit before leaning over to pick up the water bottle he’d started on before his impromptu nap. 

“Hold still.” Jack said, pressing their foreheads together to check his temperature again. Despite himself, he let the contact linger beyond what it needed to and they sat like that for almost fifteen seconds before Jack realized that Gabe’s eyes had drifted shut again and he was leaning into the touch a little too deeply.

“Gabi, you’ve gotta stay up. It’s time for lunch.” Jack said with a small smile as he tried not to laugh.

“I’m tired.” Gabe said.

“Once you eat you can take another nap.” Jack bargained. Gabe opened his eyes and gave the smallest nod, enough to convey his meaning without separating their foreheads.

“We should probably move.” Jack said.

“Probably.” Gabe agreed. There was a loud knock on the door and they moved apart just enough to look at it.

“Hey, are you guys okay?” Weiss asked from the other side.

“Yea, we’re coming. Thanks for checking.” Jack called.

“No problem.” Weiss said before they could hear him move back down the hall.

“Come on, we’ve really got to go or we won’t have time to eat.” Jack said. Gabe nodded and stood from the bed, standing still for a moment before going to the door. He was sweating, something that Jack could clearly see when Gabe didn’t have a shirt on, and his eyes were a bit glassy. He’d gotten very bad in a very short amount of time.

Jack and Gabe walked down to the mess to find that almost everyone was there already. Gabe blinked at the tables as a few people looked up wearily and he frowned.

“Lisa and Gloria.” Gabe said firmly. Their roommates were both there, but they were missing. Where could they be?

“Right here, _hombre_.” Gloria said weakly. Gabe and Jack turned around to see a very exasperated Lisa carrying a smiling Gloria bridal-style into the mess.

“Marianna told me that _someone_ wouldn’t leave their room. So I made her.” Lisa explained as she gently set Gloria on the seat next to Kit.

“At least she’s wearing pants.” Peters said, pointing at Katelin to make his point.

“I put a bra on.” She defended. “I could have been naked.” Peters hummed half-heartedly but everyone was too tired and worn out to really argue, even though Katelin _was_ just wearing underwear. Gabe and Jack finally sat down and one of the betas handed them their food. Jack gave them a thin smile and they nodded in return. Normally they couldn’t be fucked to do anything for the soldiers, but even they could tell they weren’t up to doing much of anything.

Everyone had some form of soup, the ones with fevers only getting a thin broth. Jack furrowed his brow when he saw the bowl in front of Gabe and he took the man’s spoon, tasting it before he could argue.

“That’s bone broth.” Jack said with slight surprise.

“It’s…what?” Gabe asked, completely confused.

“It’s made with bones and some veggies. My brother used to use it all the time whenever anyone got sick. Bone broth and honey tea are his go-to cures for just about everything.”

“Why do I get the bone shit and you get…whatever the fuck that is?” Gabe asked. It would have sounded angry if he wasn’t so damn weak.

“Potato and cheese, it looks like.” Tully said with a quick glance in Jack’s bowl. “I got broccoli.”

“What is this?” Katelin asked Jack, having overheard the conversation.

“He says it’s bone soup.” Gabe informed her.

“Bone broth.” Jack corrected. “It helps pretty much everything.” Gabe dipped his spoon into it experimentally, making a small pool of the yellow-ish broth in it. He ate the bite and gave the tiniest of shrugs before going for a bigger spoonful.

“It’s kind of good.” He admitted. Katelin took a bite as well and made a that’s-not-too-bad face.

“How is everyone doing? Peters, are you okay?” Gabe asked as he continued eating.

“I’m tired, and I feel weak, but I’m doing alright.” Peters said.

“Gloria? Katelin? You both looked pretty rough earlier.” Gabe asked, looking between the two women.

“I can’t believe the air-conditioning in this place isn’t better. Other than that, I’m good.” Katelin said.

“I just want to go back to sleep. Lisa won’t let me, though.” Gloria said. Lisa frowned and whispered something in Gloria’s ear, making her shake her head and whisper back. Gabe leaned over to Jack and mirrored her motion.

“Did the commander say anything about fraternization?” He asked teasingly. Jack smirked and didn’t say anything but shook his head ‘no’.

“Hey, I have an idea.” Johnson suddenly said.

“Oh?” Jack asked even as Gabe glared daggers at Johnson. That fucker went against his grain in the worst of ways, even though he couldn’t pin down a reason why.

“Grab all of our blankets and pillows and bring them to the rec room. There’s a couch and a movie collection in there even though there’s no cable, we can watch movies on the TV and nap.” He said with a brilliant smile at Jack.

“Oh! That actually sounds really fun. That could be just what we all need.” Jack said, making Johnson brighten. “What do you think, Gabi?” He asked, turning to Gabe. Johnson’s smile waned.

“Sure. I’m down. Anyone else?” It only took a few seconds for all of the others to agree to the idea and when lunch finished they all broke apart to grab what they needed before reconvening in the rec room, where Ingleberg was already setting up a movie from the online library. He grinned as the others trickled in and started throwing pillows and blankets together to form a half-hearted bed next to the couch, which had already been claimed by Tully and her long-ass legs, though there was a pillow on both ends of the couch.

“What’re we watching?” Jack asked as he propped both his and Gabe’s pillows up against the couch.

“Pretty Woman, the original not the remake.” Ingleberg said confidently. There were a few groans and he frowned, planting his hands on his hips. “Don’t be a bunch of bitches, this is a classic.”

“It’s over fifty years old.” Weiss complained. “I think it was literally made in the nineteen hundreds. Maybe early two thousands. And it’s a total chick-flick.” A few others gave mumbled agreements as they all settled in their places on the floor, laying partially on top of each other or, in Gloria’s case, with their head in someone else’s lap. Lisa didn’t seem to mind. Gabe and Jack ended up lying next to each other on their backs, legs stretched in front of them. Gabe had both arms crossed behind his head for extra cushioning while Jack only had one, and Peters was lying on his stomach with his legs stretched across both of theirs, arms folded underneath his pillow.

“What’s Pretty Woman?” Marianna whispered to Johnson.

“I don’t know.” He whispered back.

“You don’t have to watch it.” Ingleberg said with a shrug. He pressed play on the remote and set it back in its stand before picking his way over the sprawled bodies of the other soldiers to make his way to the couch, where he collapsed with his legs on top of Tully’s.

“Ugh, you fucker.” She complained, moving their legs around until she was comfortable.

“Shut up, it’s starting.” Katelin hissed.

Despite the early complaints, no one left. There were even a few comments during the movie, the first at the very beginning when the main woman made it clear that she was very broke.

“Bitch, me too.” Weiss said. There was a loud burst of laughter from the group before they quieted down again and continued the movie. Little comments and jokes were made through the movie, some of the sicker soldiers taking brief naps. Even the most reluctant, however, gasped and ‘aahh’ed at all the right times, just as engrossed in the romance as everyone else.

“If she doesn’t marry him, I will.” Lisa announced at one point. Gloria shifted a bit in her lap to put up at her, disrupting the rhythmic way Lisa had been playing with her extremely curly hair.

“But then who will carry me everywhere?” She asked a bit petulantly. Lisa shrugged, making everyone laugh and Gloria sighed heavily, albeit with a small smile, as she turned back to the screen.

When the main characters finally got together there was a collective cheer and Peters jerked awake from the small snooze he’d been taking. He glanced around a bit accusatorily before realizing what was going on and resting his head back on his pillow.

“Kit, that could be us but you’re married with kids.” Marianna said as she grinned at the other woman, who raised an eyebrow at her.

“Are you forgetting about your own mate?”

“Shh, he doesn’t have to know.” Marianna stage-whispered.

“Well if people are having affairs, you wanna get in on this, Jackie?” Johnson asked with a crooked smirk. Jack raised his eyebrows and sat up partially, propping himself up on an elbow to look at Johnson over Gabe. Ingleberg was flipping through the other movies in the digital library and trying to find a good one as Tully gave him unhelpful comments.

“Since when do you call me ‘Jackie’?” Jack asked. Gabe rolled onto his side to look at Johnson as well, and moved one leg slightly behind him and on top of one of Jack’s as he stared at Johnson with a slight frown.

“I don’t know, Gabriel calls you Jackie and I like the sound of it.” Johnson said with a shrug, smile never waning.

“Well, you’re not Gabe.” Jack said, a hand moving down to rest on Gabe’s hip. “Besides, you need a mate to have an affair.”

“I guess we’ll just have to be mates and skip the affair.” Johnson said, undeterred. Gabe growled and Jack felt him tense up underneath his hand. The small conversations that had broken out around them suddenly quieted at the angry noise Gabe had made and the building scent of two alphas sizing each other up.

After a moment Johnson shrugged and his smile returned.

“Maybe some other time. Looks like Reyes doesn’t want to give up his friend.” He said, looking Gabe right in the eyes as he did. Gabe let out a low rumble, not quite a growl, but just enough to be heard. They held eye contact for a long time but just as Gabe was about to say something confrontational Johnson gave in and looked down, away from Gabe. Gabe watched him for a moment before settling back in his previous position. Relieved that he wasn’t going to have to break up another alpha fight, Jack did the same.

“Well that was a lot of tension.” Tully said.

“Subtle, Alex. Real subtle.” Ingleberg sighed. She shrugged and started to say something else but was interrupted by one of the two betas that took care of their food arriving in the door.

“I have some mail for you guys.” She announced, raising a stack of rubber banded envelopes. The soldiers all looked up at her, confused.

“I thought we weren’t allowed to send any mail?” Marianna asked.

“You aren’t, but you _are_ allowed to _receive_ mail. It took a while to get these in because we have to process them to make sure there aren’t any foreign substances in or on them and that there’s nothing inside that you aren’t allowed to have.” She explained.

“Well shit, hand it over!” Kit said, sitting up in excitement.

“Uh, okay…this stack is for...Ian Weiss.” She said, looking around to see who answered to the name. He scrambled over to her and took his stack.

“Here, do you mind? I can hand them out.” Ian said, holding out his hands for the rest of the stacks.

“I need the rubber bands back. You’re not allowed to have them.” She warned.

“Hey, no problem, no problem. Just hurry up!” Gloria urged.

“Yea, shut up, ya bunch of vultures.” Ian laughed. “Alex, this is yours.” He called, throwing the stack at her. She caught it easily and practically tore off the band in her eagerness to get to the letters.

“Gloria…Kit…Diego…Liam…Lisa…Gabriel…Katelin…Marianna…Jack...Thomas.” He called, tossing each person their bound letters. “Alright now I need the bands back, hand them over. Wait, wait, no!” Ian immediately yelled as he got pelted with rubber bands that each person shot at him. 

Jack and Gabe turned to each other as Ian scrambled to get all of the bands and Jack tilted his head slightly as he smiled.

“Who are yours from?” He asked. “I’ve got some from my brother, my sisters, and my parents. It looks like eight in total.” Gabe had a much smaller stack, only three, but they made him happy all the same.

“Ah, they’re from Mamá and Papi.” Gabe told him as he opened one. It was a pale pink envelope, and the paper inside was a slightly darker shade with black ink and long, looping handwriting covering the two pages stuffed inside the envelope. Knowing Mamá, they were written front and back. Just the thought made him smile.  
_Mijo,  
Sé que te fuiste, pero ya te extraño._

“What does it say?” Jack asked, looking at the letter in Gabe’s hands as he opened the first of his own.

“It says that she misses me.” Gabe told him, voice fond as he looked at his mother’s familiar handwriting. He’d seen that handwriting on notes around the house, grocery lists, and even on simple things that required her signature. He always got the familiar pang of longing and familiarity when he saw it, ever since his first letter in basic training.

“Whoa, is that one from your dad?” Jack asked, lightly touching the white envelope that was sandwiched between two pink ones.

“Yea, I guess it is.” Gabe said with a smile as he looked at the name scrawled across the back in a much blockier hand.

“You’re lucky. My dad doesn’t talk a lot even in person, he never goes out of his way to send something as sentimental as a letter.” Jack complained before letting his eyes scan the letter in his lap. Slowly, a smile broke across his face.

“Guys! Look, look, look!” Kit shouted, holding up a small square of photo-paper. She went around and showed it to anyone she could get to look away from their own mail, gushing the entire time. “It’s my girls! Gosh, this was taken at their seven birthday a few months ago.” She said with wonder. She finally got to Gabe and Jack and they both looked at the picture eagerly, wanting to see the famous twins that they all knew about. They were identical, as far as the men could tell, and both wearing matching Miraculous Ladybug costumes as they stood arm-in-arm, grinning cheekily at the camera.

“This is Merida and this is Rosie.” She told them, tapping the face of the girl she meant as she said their name. They didn’t look like Kit at all, both white with bright green eyes and black hair, but something in the way they held themselves in the photo reminded Jack of her.

“How can you tell the difference?” Gabe asked curiously.

“I’m their mom. I know everything.” She said seriously before breaking back out into a huge grin. “They look just like Marnie, you know.”

“Kit, I don’t mean to alarm you, but I don’t think these are your kids.” Jack told her somberly. She laughed and pushed his shoulder.

“Fuck off.” She said before going back to her letters and opening another.

They spent a long time there together, opening letters and reading and poking fun at each other for something their mom said to them. Jack, true to his prediction, didn’t get a letter from his father. His mother mentioned him, but Jack rolled his eyes at that and informed Gabe that his father had the emotional range of a lemon and couldn’t miss him even if he wanted to. Gabe’s dad, on the other hand, wrote a three page letter. Most of it was informing Gabe of all the drama he’d had with clients and their dresses, but the last paragraph was a very touching, if brief, declaration that he missed his son and couldn’t wait until the “sketchy science experiment” was done so they could go out to eat as a family.

Suddenly there was a loud burst of laughter from the other side of the couch and to Jack’s pleasant surprise it had come from Peters. The man was leaning against the back of the couch, folded letters in one hand and an open letter in the other, and he shook with poorly contained laughter.

“Care to share with the class, Liam?” Gabe asked with amusement.

“My sister, Mary, she sent me a letter and she started complaining about how her husband is getting sick. She thinks it’s a fever.” Peters said with a laugh. A few of the others joined him and they lapsed into easy conversation again. Gabe leaned back against his pillow and pulled the blanket up over his shoulders as Jack read the rest of his letters, reading them aloud for Gabe and adding stories or descriptions as he went. Gabe hummed or made noises of amusement for the first letter but then fell silent. Jack looked over at him when he was out of letters and smiled softly when he realized that Gabe was asleep again. Jack almost pressed their foreheads together to check his temperature before realizing where they were. What it would seem like to the other soldiers. Jack pressed his lips together firmly to keep from smirking at the mental image of the shock on Gabe’s face if he woke up, their faces right in front of each other. It almost seemed worth it.

“Gabi, at least go to bed before you pass out.” He said as he gently shook Gabe’s shoulder. Gabe grumbled lightly and curled up tighter. “Gaaabi, wake up, wake up.” Jack encouraged, shaking a bit more roughly. Gabe sat up a bit groggily and looked at him accusatorily.

“Jackie, there’d better be a damn good reason for waking me up or I’ll eat all of your corn for the rest of your life.” Gabe threatened.

“Oh no! My corn!” Jack laughed. “Come on, let’s get you to bed. Then you can sleep all you want. I’ll even bring dinner to you if you’re still tired by then. Let me take care of you, buddy.”

“Ugh, don’t ever call me that again.” Gabe complained as he started to wobble up to his feet, gathering his pillow and blanket.

“Buddy? Why?” Jack asked curiously, picking up all of their letters as well as his own linens. He and Gabe started wandering back to their own room side-by-side, each gladly accepting the company of the other.

“It just doesn’t sound right coming from you.” Gabe informed him.

“What would you rather I call you, then?” Jack asked, amused.

“Gabi, Gabe, Gabriel, or hell I’ll even take Reyes.”

“Ugh, Gabriel sounds so stiff. What about…Sweetie?”

“Does anything about me seem sweet to you?”

“Yes, you’re very sweet. Cookie?”

“ _Bzzzzt_ , try again.”

“Babe?” As soon as the word was out of his mouth Jack winced, suddenly remembering that he’d called Gabe that very name not twenty four hours ago. An apology was balanced on the tip of his tongue when Gabe spoke.

“I don’t mind that one.” He internally winced at himself and they fell into silence, each kicking themselves for the stupid things they’d just said.

It was easy to convince Gabe to get into his bed. Easier still after he’d drunk another bottle of water that Jack had filled in the sink, still slightly sluggish after his meal and nap. He’d need to piss really badly later, but for the moment he was resting comfortably and seemed on the edge of sleep again. Jack sat on the edge of the bed and pressed their foreheads together.

“You don’t need to keep checking on me.” Gabe murmured.

“I don’t need to, but I will. I like you Gabi. I won’t let you die in a bunkbed. That’s a dumb way to go.”

“While I appreciate the thought, I don’t think I’m dying.” Gabe said. Jack smiled and let out a little huff. For a moment he was struck by the temptation to lean even further into his space, to press their lips together and see if the kiss burned hotter than Gabe’s fever. 

Jack quickly leaned back.

“I’m…I’m going to go to the gym.” He said hollowly.

“Mmm, have fun.” Gabe whispered sleepily. Jack nodded dumbly and stepped out of the room, closing the door silently behind him. 

Jack slipped down to the gym without running into anybody, correctly assuming that they would all be focused on recuperating rather than working out. Once inside, he shucked his shirt and draped it over the front of Jack’s preferred treadmill as he punched in some settings and set out on a light jog. It was a pace he could maintain for a couple of hours. It wasn’t pushing his limits at all, but gave him a pleasant burn after the first fifteen minutes. It was almost enough to make him stop thinking.

Almost.

His mind hummed with disappointment and anger at himself and his feet came down with too much force on the rubber tread, jarring his legs uncomfortably. He’d called Gabe ‘Babe’. He’d been _this_ close to kissing him. Goddamnit, what was wrong with him!? He should _not_ be having these kinds of thoughts about his friend. About someone he worked with. God _damnit_.

“You don’t look happy.” Someone said. Jack jumped slightly and peered over his shoulder, startled at Johnson’s sudden appearance.

“Holy crap, how long have you been here?” Jack exclaimed, slamming a palm down on the emergency stop button. He trembled slightly as he used his shirt to wipe at the sweat on his face and torso, body in slight shock at the sudden cessation of movement.

“Just a minute. I couldn’t find you anywhere else, and I knew you liked running.”

“Why were you looking for me?” Jack asked, draping the shirt over one shoulder. Johnson shrugged.

“Just wanted to see you. See how you were feeling.” Jack raised an eyebrow.

“I’m fine.” He said carefully. When there was no response for several seconds he sighed. “What do you really want?”

“What makes you think I want anything?” Johnson asked. Jack frowned.

“Diego, we’re grown-ass men. Don’t treat me like an idiot.” Johnson looked startled for a moment before a small smile settled on his face.

“I just…like you. I figured we could spend some time together. Just us.”

“What do you…?” Jack asked, forehead wrinkling in confusion before he blinked and suddenly the confusion was gone. “Oh, Johnson, I…”

“You what? You’re not mated. I can smell that much. Everyone can. So what’s the big deal if we just hang out and see where this goes?” Johnson asked with a shrug. Jack frowned. The second he contemplated it his gut clenched uncomfortably and his mind flashed unwillingly to Gabe.

“It’s a big deal because I’m not interested.” Jack snapped, sounding angrier than he had intended. Jack expected Johnson to shy away, to look remorseful or startled in some way. Instead his eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms across his chest with a huff.

“And why’s that? You’re an omega and I’m an alpha. Neither of us are mated and I’m interested.”

“Well I’m not.” Jack growled, crossing his own arms in return.

“Why not? Have I mistreated you? Have I hurt you or offended you?” Johnson asked so evenly that it infuriated Jack. Why the fuck was he being so damn calm when Jack was clearly rejecting him?

“No, but that doesn’t make you a good mate.” Jack said. Johnson’s nose flared slightly and the room was suddenly flooded with the scent of an angry, pent-up alpha attempting to mark his claim. Jack’s eyes widened and then immediately narrowed.

“Are you seriously telling me that you think you can do better than me?” Johnson asked condescendingly. “You think _Reyes_ is better than me?” He laughed.

“You can fuck right off, Diego Johnson!” Jack shouted at him, rage suddenly at a boiling point. “Gabriel Reyes is one of the kindest, smartest, sweetest, funniest people I have ever met and you could only _hope_ to be like him one day. Go choke on your own pheromones, you fucking bitch.”

“Do not speak to me like that.” Johnson growled, voice low.

“I’ll speak to you however I damn well please, _bitch_.” Jack hissed. Johnson snarled and snapped his teeth together threateningly. Jack, for the first time, truly realized that he was alone in a room with an angry alpha. He could take him on his own if he really, really needed to. 

But he didn’t need to take him on his own.

The thought barely registered before Jack reached up and ripped off one of the scent blockers on his neck, throwing his head back slightly and screaming with all of his might.

“GABRIEL!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well ain't this just a bitch of an unsatisfactory situation


	12. A Long Awaited Conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all finally get what you want
> 
> This chapter is /very/ dialogue heavy, tho. Sorry 'bout that

Gabriel did not sleep well. He drifted in and out of consciousness and tossed and turned fitfully in both states. He dreamt that he could smell Jack. That he could smell anxiety and anger. And fear.

Gabe sat up abruptly, nose flaring slightly as he scented the air. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

“Jack?” He called experimentally. The scent in the room was strong, but not enough for Jack to be there. He’d left recently. At least thirty minutes, but maybe an hour at most. He still smelled Jack’s anxiety. It was faint, but potent. It set Gabe’s nerves on edge and before he knew what he was doing he was out of bed, hand on the door knob. Suddenly the smell was overpowering, the ominous mix of apprehension and fear that permeated the air threatening to choke Gabe where he stood. He stumbled slightly and let out a piercing whine of distress. His fever-addled brain struggled to keep up with the situation.

Where was Jack? Where was he? He needed to find Jack. He needed to find his mate. He needed to find him. He needed Jack. He needed to figure out what was causing this. Why he smelled like this. Where was…?

“GABRIEL!” At the sound of his screamed name Gabe practically ripped the door off its hinges in his frantic dash to his omega. There were others in the halls as he ran, obviously drawn by the intense smell of an omega in distress as well as the loud cry. Gabe paid no heed to them, shoving them forcefully out of his way as he tore a path to his omega, the scream drawing him physically to the other man. It felt like an invisible hand had reached through Gabe’s ribcage and grabbed a hold of his spinal cord, pulling him, urging him faster, _faster_. The hand around his spine tightened along with his anger as he heard snarls coming from the gym.

Gabriel burst into the gym growling so loudly it sounded like thunder. Johnson was standing three inches from Jack and looked up at Gabe’s arrival, eyes narrowed at the sight and scent of a rival alpha. His own growl built up in his chest, rumbling up his throat and out of his mouth in a clear challenge. Gabe didn’t care. He crossed the space in three large strides and took one solid fistful of Johnson’s hair, yanking his head back and physically dragging him several feet away. Diego hissed and snapped his teeth, trying to wrench his way out of the painful hold.

“Let go of me!” Johnson snarled. Gabe’s growl grew louder, angrier, as he forced the other alpha’s head toward the ground, bending him backward at an unnatural angle.

“Gabe!” Kit gasped from the edge of the gym where she and the others had gathered, finally arrived. Gabe ignored them.

“You will not touch my mate ever again, do you understand me?” He snarled, voice barely recognizable as his own with how feral he was in his own rage.

“Go to hell.” Diego snapped, scent flaring as he egged Gabe on. As he challenged him for dominance. Gabe pushed him back further and his body finally gave way, sending him sprawling on the floor as Gabe held his head firmly in place by his hair. Gabe’s scent increased dramatically in response. It filled the room so completely that every breath lacked oxygen, filling the lungs of everyone around him with pheromones and dominance. It was suffocating. It felt like breathing rotten cotton candy.

Gabe stared down at him, his hand visibly tightening in Diego’s hair. 

“Diego, don’t be a fucking moron.” Peters yelled from where he and the others were watching the proceedings in an odd mix of awe and horror. Diego snarled and snapped his teeth together, maintaining eye contact for several long, tense heartbeats before his eyes finally slid to the floor. His challenging scent faded slightly, but not by much. Gabe let out a low growl but let go, shoving Johnson’s head away harshly.

“Learn from your mistakes. Do not test me again or next time I will not be nearly as forgiving. I promise you that. Jackie, let’s go.” Gabe finished, grabbing Jack’s hand and towing him out of the room without waiting for any sort of response.

Jack let himself get tugged along behind Gabe without complaint and he let Gabe shepherd him into their room, practically slamming the door behind him. Gabe, despite his obvious rage, took the crumpled scent blocker from Jack’s hand with extreme care and peeled off the one on the other side of his neck. Slowly, he took the ones from his wrists as well.

“Take the others off, too.” Gabe said softly, voice rough.

“Why?” Jack asked, even as he pulled the hem of his pants down enough to expose his hips bones and the prominent V that led to his pubic area. He ripped off the two stickers on either side, just inside the bones, and winced as they tore up some of the fine, blonde hairs there.

“Be careful.” Gabe whispered as he took those stickers as well, disappearing into the bathroom to toss them in the trash.

“Gabe…” Jack started. Gabe raised a hand to cut him off. He needed to speak before Jack did. He needed to explain. Jesus, why did he use the word mate? In front of the entire fucking group. And whatever cameras were watching. _Fucking hell, Gabe._

“Sorry. That was uncalled for. In every sense.” Gabe interrupted before Jack could continue. Jack drew his eyebrows together.

“What do…?”

“I understand that what I did and said were totally out of line. I accept that and…”

“Gabriel Reyes shut the _fuck_ up right now.” Jack said firmly. Gabe looked at him, eyes wide with surprise and more than a bit of trepidation. Gabe bit his bottom lip for a moment before letting it go and nodding.

“I’m listening.” He said. This was it. This was the moment where Jack tore into him for the stupid shit he said. He’d take it. He’d suck it up and he’d nod and he’d say ‘yes, sir’, ‘no, sir’ and he’d request a room change. It couldn’t be that damn hard to get someone to swap bunks with him. It’s not like they’d see their roomie any less. Liam was nice, he’d probably switch if Gabe asked really nicely.

“So…mate, huh?” Jack asked at last, sitting on Gabe’s bunk.

“Like I said, I’m really sorry for what I…”

“You know, I’ve never heard you apologize for anything the entire time I’ve known you and suddenly I can’t get you to stop. You’re always so confident, Gabi. I don’t like this.” Gabe winced.

“Sorry.”

“I swear to god, Gabi. Say it one more time. I fucking dare you.” Jack said, brows quirking in anger.

“I don’t know what you want from me.” Gabe snapped, beginning to pace back and forth in their tiny room. Jack frowned at him, following him with his eyes.

“You said mate.” He repeated.

“Yes, and I already apologized for that.”

“Gabi, we’re mates. You don’t need to keep apologizing to me for finally saying it.” Jack said with an exasperated laugh. Gabe froze mid-step and slowly looked at him.

“I’m sorry?”

“Gabi if you keep making me repeat myself I’m going to actually throw myself out of a window.”

“Don’t joke about that. I’ll bring you back to life just to kill you myself.” Gabe said darkly as he finally relented and sat on the bed by Jack.

“Gabe, I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re mates, right?”

“That’s the only thing that can explain it. Why we relax so much around each other. Why we can smell differences in each other no one else notices. Why I can smell you past the scent blockers. Why…why you smell so good without them.”

“Is that why you wanted me to take them off?” Jack laughed lightly. Gabe nodded, still looking at the ground and worrying his hands against each other.

“I wanted to know what you really smell like.”

“Well, we’re mates apparently. You can smell me anytime you want to.” Jack said, hesitating for a moment before reaching a hand across and resting it on Gabe’s to make him stop moving them for a moment. Gabe hesitated as well before turning one hand to clasp Jack’s.

“You’re really hot, Gabi.” Jack said with a frown. He shifted to press their foreheads together before realizing that the move was…a bit awkward in the current situation and he pulled back, cheeks tinged red.

“Yea, Diego distracted me and got my adrenaline up, but I’m still really sick.” Gabe said with a sigh.

After a moment of expectant silence Gabe laughed and ran his free hand down his face.

“Why was this so much easier before we knew what we were?” He asked, half to himself.

“I don’t know, but I guess this means I can finally stop feeling bad about checking you out when you change.” Jack said, shooting a wry smile at…his mate. Gabe let out a bark of a laugh and shook his head.

“Jackie, what are we doing?”

“Who knows?”

“I mean, we’re part of an _experiment_. There’s no way this is going to go over well when they figure this out.”

“I…I think they already have.” Jack said, eyebrows drawing together as he thought. Gabe looked at him straight on for the first time since he sat down and his grip on Jack’s hand tightened slightly.

“What do you mean?” He demanded.

“Well, do you remember when Cho and Schwartz were talking about you presenting as a dominant alpha and blah blah blah?”

“How could I forget?” Gabe replied icily, the memory and recent confrontation with Jackass of the Year Diego Johnson raising his anger back to the surface.

“They were dancing around what _made_ you present. They were talking about it like they had an idea, but weren’t sure.”

“You think they were talking about us being mates?” Gabe asked.

“Yes. I think they’ve known since they brought us into medical. Remember when you dominated everyone and they tested _both_ of us?”

“I dominated everyone but you, actually.” Gabe pointed out with a little smile.

“That’s a given. No one can dominate me.”

“I bet if I tried hard enough I could do it.” Gabe joked, shifting to press their hips together playfully and not bothering to move away again.

“You’re not the first alpha to say that to me. So far, I’ve been left wanting.”

“That would imply you want to be dominated. I know better.”

“Listen, we _just_ came to the conclusion that we’re mates. You don’t know my kinks.”

“You don’t know mine, either.”

“I bet I can figure them out.” Jack said playfully. He shifted, letting go of Gabe’s hand, and swung a leg over his lap so he was straddling him, knees on either side of his hips. “You know, I’ve wanted to do this since the first time I saw you take your pants off.” Gabe grinned at him, all toothy and predatory.

“Have you, now?” He asked, letting his hands rest on Jack’s hips. God, when they were this close and Jack didn’t have his suppressors on…he was nearly intoxicating.

“You’re thinking too hard.” Jack teased. Gabe hummed and leaned forward, letting his forehead rest just where Jack’s shoulder and neck met.

“You smell really good.” Gabe whispered. Jack let out a quiet little chuckle. If Gabe didn’t think it would get his balls handed to him on a silver platter, he would have called it a giggle.

“That’s how you’ve always smelled to me. You’ve never worn scent suppressants. It was totally unfair to my poor heart.” Jack said with an exaggerated pout, equally as soft.

“Oh, please. You’re not affected in the same way at all.” Gabe grumbled half-heartedly. He was enjoying the moment way too much to be actually upset, but he could play at it a bit.

“I beg to differ. I’m just used to it by now. That first day, though? Phew, that was bad. You told me not to fuck with you and that you wanted to bottom. Bit of a contradiction, but whatever. My brain was too fucked up with all of your goddamn hormones to really process anything.”

“I don’t think that’s what I said.” Gabe laughed.

“I’m pretty sure that’s what you said.” Jack contradicted with a light hum. Gabe shook his head and let out a huff of amusement.

“Mates.” He said, slightly in awe at the idea.

“Mhm, which means you’re stuck with me.”

“Jack, not just any set of mates feels this strongly. I mean, I don’t know about you but I felt drawn to you from the start. Even when I thought you were an alpha, and I’m not into alphas. I mean, I’ve never had another mate so I don’t know, but I’m pretty damn positive this isn’t normal. Hell, from day one I’ve felt….”

“Possessive?” Jack supplied helpfully. He rested one hand on the back of Gabe’s neck, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles. 

“I…may have felt it too.” Jack admitted. “When Tully said something to you during that first simulation I got really upset and I couldn’t figure out why.”

“And that was after how many days of knowing each other? Three? Four?”

“Somewhere around there. It _is_ kinda weird we started feeling like this so quickly.” Jack agreed.

“Unless…”

“Unless what? Honestly, I’m willing to listen to any theory right now. Possessed by ghosts? Mates in past lives?”

“Nothing so colorful.” Gabe laughed. “But I’d like to talk to Marianna once I’ve calmed down.”

“You seem pretty calm to me.” Jack said, wiggling his hips a bit and making Gabe growl softly, squeezing his hips with his hands lightly.

“If you keep that up I won’t be for long.”

“Who says I want you calm?” Jack asked with a teasing grin before growing serious again. “Why do you want to talk to Marianna?”

“I want her take on the situation. She has experience with abnormal matings.” Jack sat up a bit and his eyes widened.

“You think we’re _true mates_?” He asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe. All I know is that normal matings don’t give people these kinds of feelings this soon.”

“That…may actually be a pretty good point.” Jack conceded.

“So we’ll go talk to her.”

“Now?” Jack asked, raising an eyebrow. Gabe had his face practically glued to Jack’s neck and his hands didn’t seem to want to move from Jack’s hips.

“Mm, no, not now. Now that we’ve decided that you’re mine I don’t want to stop touching you. Even if you are still pretty sweaty.”

“I don’t think we decided that at all. If anything, you’re mine. We both know who wears the pants here. Now let me up, I need to shower.”

“Excuse me, sir, I’m the alpha here.” Gabe groused as he let go of Jack and he stood from his lap, making his way to the bathroom.

“Keep telling yourself that, babe.” Jack said, tossing a wink over one shoulder as he started stripping and tossing clothes in the dirty laundry basket, not bothering to close the door behind him. Gabe watched openly and let out a low whistle of appreciation when Jack started to get into the shower. Jack looked at him and quirked an amused eyebrow.

“Yes?”

“Just admiring the view, is all.” Gabe said with a smirk. Jack huffed and tossed imaginary hair over his shoulder before striking a pose, hand cocked on his hip and the other gripping the edge of the shower.

“Come with me, lover boy.” Jack said. His voice reverberated slightly and rumbled in his chest. Gabe shuddered and he felt his eyes droop slightly.

“It’s very unfair to do that to your own mate, you know.” Gabe said. He never wanted to stop using the word ‘mate’ in reference to Jack. It felt so good to say. Jack laughed brightly and stepped into the shower, completely nonplussed at getting caught.

“If alphas get to use their big scary alpha voices I get to have some fun, too.” Gabe, despite his griping, rolled his eyes and smiled contently as he listened to the sound of rushing water and Jack humming a tune Gabe didn’t know. Alphas and omegas both had voices, though they were very different. Alphas used theirs for intimidation and submission, omegas for persuasion and soothing. Even betas with extremely high or low dominance were known to use it. Either voice was good for ending fights, no matter who used it. 

“You’re really not joining me?” Jack called, pout clear in his voice.

“I could be swayed.” Gabe bargained. He heard Jack laugh and he smiled instantly.

“My dashing good looks aren’t enough incentive?” Jack asked.

“Meh, you’re alright.” Gabe said, letting his eyes drift closed even as he smirked. Now that all the adrenaline and excitement was wearing off, his body was not-so-subtly reminding him that he had a fever and probably shouldn’t have pushed himself that hard.

“I’m offended.” Jack complained. Gabe hummed but didn’t reply past that, letting himself drift slightly. Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Gabe’s eyes snapped open, a growl already rising in his throat. He’d just been challenged not ten minutes ago and was perfectly willing to take on another, even with his body warning him that it wasn’t a good idea. He was using up massive amounts of energy putting off pheromones and warning people off, as well as by just being sick.

“Don’t even think about getting up.” Jack warned from the bathroom, where steam billowed out and licked at the ceiling. Jack stepped out, towel wrapped loosely around his hips, and shot Gabe a warning look before going to the door and partially opening it.

“How can I…oh, Travis.” Jack said, voice going from cordial to cold in the instant it took to recognize the man on the other side of the door. Travis raised an eyebrow, ever-present clipboard in hand.

“You’re not wearing your scent blockers.” Travis said, nose wrinkling and lip curling slightly.

“Hello to you, too.” Jack said with a feigned smile. Travis stared at him suspiciously for a moment before evidently deciding that it wasn’t worth pressing the matter.

“I’ve been instructed to bring both you and Subject Reyes to the med bay. Forget whatever you're doing and come with me.” He said, sniffing slightly.

“Can I at least get dressed?” Jack asked, exasperated. Travis’s lips twitched downward.

“If you must.” He said. Jack gave a tight smile before shutting the door again and rolling his eyes toward Gabe.

‘If you must’ he mouthed mockingly. Gabe stifled a laugh as Jack went to the drawers and quickly dropped the towel.

“Hooooly fuck.” Gabe breathed. Jack shot him a knowing smirk over his shoulder.

“Don’t make me want to stay here.” Jack warned. He slipped on some boxers and pants, staring at the drawer for a long time before shutting it again, foregoing a shirt.

“Going for the partial nudist look?” Gabe asked curiously.

“I’m running out of shirts. Besides, it’s the med bay. It’s not like it’s anything they haven’t seen before. They’d probably make me take it off anyway. Now come on, let’s get going before we get yelled at.” He said, tone making it clear that that was the least of his worries. Gabe groaned his protest, but got up off the bed and was close behind Jack as he opened the door again.

“Are you quite done yet?” Travis asked impatiently.

“Yes, let’s go.” Jack prompted. Travis eyed them both before nodding and walking away quickly, following the familiar path to the med bay. Jack and Gabe trailed behind him by a couple of feet, sticking close together as they walked.

They were quiet as they walked and after they got to the med bay Gabe’s eyes narrowed. It was too empty. Even if there weren’t any subjects in the area, there was always a doctor and a couple of nurses running around or doing paperwork. This time…there was no one. No one except Doctor Cho, who was pacing in the middle of the bay.

“Hey, Cho. What’s up?” Jack asked. Gabe could hear and smell his suspicion. He had to admit that he was feeling much of the same.

“I heard about what happened.” She said, not bothering with pleasantries.

“Then you know that he forced my hand.” Gabe said, chin raising slightly with the confidence in his decision.

“I know that you two have finally figured out what you are. I really didn’t want this to go this way, please believe me.” She said. She ran a hand through her hair, disrupting her immaculate styling. The scent of her agitation filled the air and Gabe warily stepped in front of Jack.

“Cho, what’s going on?” Gabe asked slowly. She looked up at him, her eyes wide and regretful.

“I am so, so sorry.” She said. “I didn’t want to do this.”

“Cho, I told you what I saw. The decision has already been made.” Travis said coolly.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Gabe growled, an arm unconsciously coming up slightly in front of Jack, keeping him behind him.

“I’m sorry.” She said again. Jack growled but was then cut off by his own high pitched whine, making Gabe whirl, already snarling. Travis stood over Jack, who was crumbling to his knees but trying to stay up. He had a cold look in his eyes and was holding a syringe in one hand. He met Gabe’s gaze unflinchingly even as the dominant alpha let out a bone-shaking growl of anger. There was a sudden sharp pain in his neck and he whipped back around, head swimming with the sudden movement as he stepped one foot over Jack, trying to stay between him and both Travis and Cho, who was now significantly closer with her own syringe in hand.

“What did you do?” Gabe demanded, trying to fight the fatigue that attempted to drag him to the ground. Jack had gone worryingly still.

“I’m so sorry.” She said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just can't let them be happy, can I?


	13. Like Lions in a Cage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, now that I'm done with the semester, I should have more time to write. :D
> 
> Should, is the key word there.

Gabe came to consciousness with an angry growl and a snap of teeth. He rocketed up into a sitting position and immediately gripped his head as his brain seemed to disconnect from his body for a moment before aligning again. He’d either gotten absolutely smashed the night before, or he’d been tranquilized. Based on the lack of lingering buzz, it was the latter. He whipped his head around, trying to figure out where he was. The room was small, three walls of white concrete and one of some clear material. There was door in the clear material, with a handle and a small shelf on the other side of it. It was completely smooth on Gabe’s side, save for a metal flap that connected to the shelf. Gabe staggered his way to the door and pressed against it futilely. He pressed at the flap to no avail, it evidently only swung one way and if Gabe was in any less of a frustrated state he may have made a joke about that, but instead he resorted to pounding on the door.

“Where is Jack!” He screamed. The wall seemed to be made out of Plexiglas or something similar, because it didn’t have any give to it at all. On the other side was what looked like a white room, with light grey tiled floors and no visible exit. There was a bed, which he had been laying on, a sink and a toilet. Nothing else. No way out, no method of escape or reprieve. Nothing.

“JACK!”

“Mister Reyes, please don’t yell. If you will listen to what I have to say, I will explain as much as I am allowed to.” Doctor Cho said as she came into view. She had a bright red plastic chair in one hand, tablet in the other.

“You! You put me in here! Tell me where Jack is right now or I swear to whatever you believe in I will tear this place apart to find him. We both know that isn’t an idle threat.” Gabe growled, voice so low it was almost guttural. Doctor Cho wouldn’t meet his eyes as she set the chair down by the door and sat in it. Her feet were pressed together, tucked up under the chair and her shoulders were bent forward in a clear sign of guilt.

“Mister Morrison is fine, I promise. He’s being looked in on right now. I can ask after him, if you like.” She said, lifting the tablet slightly before letting it fall back into her lap. “I’m sorry. I really, really am. I didn’t intend for this to happen.”

“And yet here we are.”

“I can’t tell you everything. People earning much more money than I do have…advised very strongly against it.”

“A gag order.” Gabe said, eyes narrowing in understanding. She didn’t nod or shake her head, but tilted it to the side slightly and closed her eyes slowly before opening them again. It made sense that they would put a gag order in place. They didn’t want the subjects they were so worried about to know too much.

“Where is Jack?” Gabe asked instead of voicing any of these thoughts, coming to the door and crouching on his heels in front of it, one palm pressed against the glass as he stared at the woman opposite him.

“Safe and being checked in on.” She repeated. “I can contact the person with him.” She reminded him, tapping a finger on the tablet.

“Please.” Gabe said, voice a lot lower and more desperate than he had intended. She nodded, not commenting on his tone, and tapped on the tablet for several long seconds before looking back up at him.

“Is there anything else you’d like to ask me? I’ll answer what I can.”

“Why am I here?”

“I am here to observe you and make medical decisions for you on behalf of the government.” Doctor Cho said, carefully sidestepping the question while also indirectly answering it.

“Who is gagging you? Someone here? On the base?” Gabe asked. Cho looked at him, worrying her lip between her teeth as she thought. It was probably smearing her lipstick but neither of them cared about that at the moment.

“I’m an alpha, like you and like my wife. Like you, not many people can tell us what to do if we don’t want to do it. My wife is in charge of this entire branch of the experiment. Almost no one can tell her what to do, and she doesn’t want to do this either.” She finally said.

“So two alphas who, together, control this base have both been told what to do and given a gag order. That couldn’t have been given at this level.” Gabe muttered. “How long am I going to be here?” He asked, looking back at her.

“I don’t know.” She admitted. She looked down at her tablet again, frowning deeply. She was evidently unhappy with whatever she found. “Excuse me, I will have to continue this evaluation at a later date. Please fill out this form for me, I will be back for it in a minute.” She said, slipping the tablet through the flap and quickly walking away, her heels clacking ominously on the tile before being cut off by the sound of a door closing. Gabe took the tablet in his hands and looked at the form, frowning deeply. It was general shit, how he felt, how he was emotionally, on a scale of one to ten how anxious was he, on a scale of one to ten how happy was he, how angry. Did he feel like hurting himself or others.

Gabe filled it out quickly, trying to decide how honest to be as he went. He decided that they could damn well suck his dick for all he cared. He filled it all out like a fucking saint would, making it seem like he was pechy-keen and happy as a clam. 

He was anything but. Not that he could tell them that.

After what felt like ages waiting for Cho to come back, he got restless and decided to click on the ‘previous application’ button. It opened a message chain between Doctor Cho and ‘Nurse Travis’. Gabe frowned as he read the messages, the latest of which had taken place fifteen minutes previously.

Doctor Cho: _How is Morrison?_

Nurse Travis: _Fine._

Doctor Cho: _That does not give me confidence. Have you completed the evaluation?_

Doctor Cho: _Travis?_

Doctor Cho: _I’m coming over there._

Gabe felt his jaw clench and his teeth grind together as he felt anger rise up in him. What was that son of a bitch doing with Jack? That fucking asshole not only put Jack out, he seemed to enjoy it. 

Was Travis alone with Jack? Fuck, what was he doing to him?

Gabe clicked out of it before he could do anything stupid, like shatter the thing. He noticed a little news app and clicked on it. Might as well see what was going on outside. Last he’d known, there were rising tensions among the omnic populations as those seeking equal rights grew in numbers. The extremist group Null Sector was threatening violence against humans if they didn’t get their demands, as well as against omnics whose views didn’t align with their own. It was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

Gabe glanced over the headlines and his brow slowly furrowed in confusion. Things didn’t seem to be getting any better. If anything, they’d gotten worse. So much worse.

“Attacks riddling Lichtenstein…Bangkok in ruins…omnium in Chicago blown up by Null Sector…discrimination at all time high…Los Muertos gang out of Mexico suspected for murder of dozens of omnics…What the fuck is going on?” Gabe murmured.

“Mister Reyes, have you completed your evaluation?” Doctor Cho asked, her entrance accompanied by the sound of the door opening and then closing again. Gabe quickly exited out of the app and went back to the evlautaion as Cho sat in the seat again. She gave him a knowing look as she held the flap open, letting him pass it back to her.

“I trust you found out more than you could learn from me?” Gabe wrinkled his nose at the lingering scent of anger on her.

“I did.” Gabe said. “But all I’m worried about right now is Jack.” He couldn’t get the smell out of his head. Was he okay?

“If I tell you he’s fine again will you believe me?”

“Would you believe me if it was your wife?” Gabe asked. She smiled wryly at him.

“I think that, if the circumstances were different, you and I could be very good friends.” She told him. “I can’t promise anything, but I’m meeting with some of the other doctors in a conference call today. I may be able to help fix this. In the meantime, try and stay out of trouble? It won’t help if you kill someone while I’m trying to negotiate your release.”

“Can I see him?” Gabe asked. Cho gave him a said smile.

“You know the answer to that already.” She said. Tablet in hand, she stood once more and tipped her head to him as she began making her way back out of sight.

“I’ll see you in a bit, Mister Reyes. Hopefully I can sort this mess out for you.”

“You’d better hurry.” Gabe warned unhappily. There was a noncommittal hum and then the sound of the door closing, leaving Gabe alone.

He really hoped that he could trust Doctor Cho to do this for him. He really, really did.

~~~~~

“Ah, you’re awake.” A voice said as Jack came too. He groaned and clutched at his head as he sat up, looking for the origination of the voice.

Ah, Travis. Sitting in a plastic chair with his legs crossed over one another on the other side of a clear wall, he looked much too dry and condescending for a bedside nurse.

“Hello to you, too.” Jack said. Travis glanced up at him for a moment before going back to his tablet.

“How do you feel, physically?”

“My head hurts and my mouth is dry.” Jack said, glaring at him.

“I imagine so, you’ve been unconscious for several hours.” Travis said absently, lifting a bottle of water to his lips and drinking from it for a moment. Jack felt anger worm its way into his heart, and he put on a tight, false smile.

“And why, exactly, was I unconscious?” He asked.

“Because you’re mated to the dominant alpha.” Travis said with a flick of his fingers. “He’s causing trouble, and therefore you’re trouble. You’re being kept here until we can figure out what to do with the two of you.”

“His name is Gabriel, and if anyone’s causing trouble it’s Diego.” Jack said with a deep frown.

“Yes, I heard about what happened. You can hardly blame him for his behavior, he’s an alpha and you’re an unmated omega.”

“I’m hardly unmated.” Jack pointed out, chin raised.

“Technically you are mated, but you haven’t been claimed. It’s in the nature of alphas to try and claim what they want. Not that you would understand that. Being an omega, you’re naturally weaker. If Subject Reyes wasn’t here you most likely wouldn’t have rejected Subject Johnson. Omegas tend to attach themselves to the most dominant person around. In this case, it just happened to be the dominant.”

“His _name_ is _Gabriel_.” Jack ground out.

“Yes, of course. Now, I do actually have work to get done.”

He spent several minutes asking Jack idiotic questions, which he answered as honestly as he could. Just as they were finishing, the tablet dinged. He frowned down at it, typed something out, and set it on the ground beside his chair.

“When am I getting out of here?” Jack asked.

“Who knows? Subject Reyes will most likely rejoin the others later today if he calms down. You, on the other hand, may never return to the experiment.” The tablet dinged, but Travis ignored it.

“What?” Jack demanded. The tablet dinged two more times, both ignored.

“Well, you’re the cause of all this trouble. If you hadn’t been included in the first place the experiment wouldn’t have been upset in such a drastic manner. Subject Reyes wouldn’t have presented, he and Subject Johnson wouldn’t have had anything to fight over, and I wouldn’t be sitting here babysitting some stuck up little omega who thinks he can play with the big boys.” He said with a smile that may have seemed genuine if it had been from anyone other than him.

“That coming from a beta trying too hard to be an alpha.” He said with a sweet smile in return. Travis’s face went dark and mottled with his rage.

“How dare you…!”

“Don’t try to deny it. You smell like a beta, but you act like an alpha. I’d assume you’re high dominance, but not quite high enough for your tastes. That’s why you hate omegas so much. You’re disgusted by the fact that, if your dominance was lower, you may be more like an omega than an alpha. And you can’t _stand_ that, can you?” Travis stood from his seat so suddenly that his chair skidded back and toppled onto its back.

“You _insolent_ little fucker.” Travis growled. “You’d better be damn grateful that I’m not in charge of what happens to you, because by god I would keep you here for the rest of your life.” Travis snapped, slamming a hand against the glass as his face contorted in rage.

“Travis, that is enough.” A cold voice said, making Travis step back like it was a physical tether pulling him back.

“Hello, Doctor Cho. Lovely seeing you here.” Jack said with a happy, if strained, grin in her direction. She didn’t even spare him a glance, instead opting to stare Travis down until he looked away.

“We are professionals, Travis. You cannot behave this way no matter your individual feelings on the matter. You can bet your ass I am pulling the security tapes from this room and filing a report on this incident. Now submit your evaluation and get out.” She demanded. Jack could smell her anger heavy in the air and couldn’t help but grin at Travis as he leaned against the glass, arms crossed in satisfaction as Travis shot him a dirty look before leaving the room.

“I really don’t like that guy.” Doctor Cho said with a frown.

“You know, I was _just_ thinking the same thing.” Jack said. “What brings you down to this lovely cell of mine?”

“Someone’s been asking after you. When Travis didn’t respond to my messages, I came myself.” She said, righting the chair that Travis had toppled, though she didn’t sit. Jack silently thanked the fact that Travis was such an arrogant asshole he didn’t bother to answer the tablet when it went off.

“How is he?” Jack asked.

“Angry, but controlled for now. He’d be doing a lot better if he could see you.”

“Me too, if I’m being honest.” Jack laughed. He felt like his skin was crawling, and the only thing he wanted was to see Gabe again. Cho shook her head, anger rising from her again.

“This is a really fucked up situation.” She muttered before her eyes widened and she looked at Jack with a bit of shock. “Sorry, shouldn’t have cursed.” Jack laughed.

“We’re both soldiers. I guarantee we’ve both said a lot worse.”

“Probably.” She conceded. “Listen, I need you to do something for me.” Jack straightened slightly at her serious tone and he furrowed his brow.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Stay calm. No matter what that asshole says to you, stay calm. I’m going into a meeting soon to try and negotiate what happens to the two of you and I can’t get what we all want if he goes ape-shit because he smelled you getting angry or afraid.” She said with a wry, joking manner. Despite that, Jack had no doubts that she was being deadly serious. 

“I’ll try my best, but have you _met_ the dude? He could get into a fistfight with a saint.”

“I’ll give you that, but try not to rise to the bait, yea? My job is hard enough when I have to deal with him getting in the way, I can’t deal with a rampaging dominant alpha right now.” She said with a small smile before walking out of the room, the door swinging shut with a sound Jack imagined was similar to the sound of a nail being driven into a coffin.

His smile finally dropped and he went back to the bed, sitting on the edge and putting his head in his hands. Doctor Cho’s words, meant to be encouragement, reminded Jack of Travis’s. Her words of warning to be calm echoed too clearly with Travis’s claim that, if not for Jack, everything would be that much calmer.

Was he right?

If Jack hadn’t been there, there wouldn’t have been any reason for Gabe and Diego to fight. They’d been getting along just fine when Jack wasn’t around. Hell, the reason they were in the fucking cells was because Jack had called for Gabe when Diego got bitchy instead of dealing with it himself.

Holy fuck, it was all his fault. They were in cells because of him. Cho was in a meeting deciding their fate because of him. 

Jack balled his hands in his hair, tugging hard enough to be painful. What was he supposed to do? He couldn’t talk to anyone, couldn’t explain their side of the story. He was stuck alone in a cell, where the only people he could expect to see were the people who put him there in the first place. Jack rocked back on the bed slightly and looked up at the ceiling. He was so tired, and so angry, and so confused.

He just wanted to see Gabe.


	14. Oh Shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is entirely for PastelGuts, who sold me their soul and also motivated me enough to actually finish this stupid chapter.

“How are you feeling?” Doctor Cho asked as she sat in the plastic seat just on the other side of Gabe’s cell wall. It creaked slightly as she sat, and Gabe had the thought that a high-tech military base should be able to afford some better chairs.

“Like shit.” Gabe said, not bothering to get up from the thin, uncomfortable cot that he was lying on.

“Would you come to the door, please?” She asked. He shot an annoyed look at her, but nonetheless complied. He stood from the cot and walked over, leaning against the glass with one hand as the other planted itself on his hip.

“What do you want?” He asked dryly. They always wanted something from him.

“Take this and hold it against your forehead until it beeps.” She instructed, ignoring his tone and passing a small thermometer through the flap. Gabe rolled his eyes even as he took it and did as he was told.

“We already know I have a fever, hate to break it to you.”

“Just hold still.” Doctor Cho sighed. “I swear, you’re such a baby.”

“I’m a sick alpha being forcibly separated from my mate. How do you think your wife would react if she was in this situation?” Gabe asked, holding the thermometer as still as possible against his forehead as he snarked.

“I think both of us would act the same as you are.” Doctor Cho said with a sigh.

“Odd of you. I’d think you and Jack would both be calmer. I _know_ Jack is handling this better than I am.” Gabe said. The thermometer beeped and Cho lifted the flap with a finger to allow him to pass it back to her.

“He’s not really doing that great, either. And my wife and I are both alphas. Our relationship is a tad different from yours.” She explained absently as she looked at the reading. “You’re running a hundred-and-one degree fever. I’ll get someone to bring you more water, but you really do need to stop worrying and rest.”

“Great, I have a fever. Who would have guessed? I’m not just going to stop worrying, you know that.” Gabe told her with neither satisfaction nor reluctance. It was simply a statement of fact.

“Yes, I know. That doesn’t mean I like it.” She replied with a frown. She shook her head and went to stand, pausing slightly just as she turned to leave. “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I may need you to be alert in a few hours.”

“Why?” Gabe asked suspiciously.

“I’m trying to get the board to review your status in the experiment, trying to get you back in and out of these fucking cells.” She said before her eyes widened. She looked startled by her own vulgar language. “That was unprofessional, I apologize.” She said quickly. Gabe smirked.

“Fuck it.” She smiled back at him and rolled her eyes with amusement, infinitely more relaxed.

“Fuck it.” She agreed. “Please, at least try to rest? I’ll send someone to help with your fever.” She said before stepping back out of the room. Gabe watched her exit and then went back to recline on the cot, hands laced together behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. He felt restless, unsettled, but knew that he needed to stay calm. He needed to maintain his composure. He wasn’t sure if his restlessness was caused by his illness or his separation from Jack, but either way it wasn’t fun.

Later, a nurse came in and gave him a paper cup of water and some aspirin. The water was tinged green, but when he asked about it the nurse brushed off his questions. She took back the cup and left, forcing Gabe to reckon with his antsy-ness as he was left to wait. Wait for…anything.

He’d never liked waiting, and this was no exception.

~~~~~

Jack was unsettled. He must have caught whatever the meds had given Gabe, because his skin felt too tight, his blood too hot. He couldn’t stop moving. He paced back and forth in his cell until he decided that he needed more movement, and he moved into a series of push-ups. He always wanted to go until his arms burned, knowing his limits well, and found that he could go for much longer than he thought he would be able to. The pent-up feeling he’d been harboring must have pushed him, he decided.

Jack’s head snapped up just as he was finishing, looking towards the door as Doctor Cho walked in. She looked frazzled. It was a disconcerting sight.

“Jack, I need you to listen to what I say and not argue with me no matter how odd it may seem. It may be the difference between you and Gabriel going back into the experiment or signing discharge papers.” She told him very seriously.

“Whatever you need, I’ll do it.” He said instantly. He needed to get out of there, no matter how uncomfortable or unusual the situation may be. She gave him a thankful look and took a deep breath.

“I’m about to bring you into another room, and Gabriel is going to be there. No matter what happens don’t look at him. Don’t speak to him. Don’t acknowledge that he is there in any way, shape, or form, do you understand me?” Jack furrowed his brow at the odd request.

“Why? What’s the point?” He asked. Why would Jack be purposefully put in a room with Gabe and then asked to pretend he wasn’t there? It seemed counterintuitive.

“I can’t tell you. But you can choose to trust me or you can do the opposite of what I just told you. It’s your choice.” She said, very clearly telling him to follow her orders. Jack thought about his options for a moment before giving a slow nod.

“Okay, I’ll do it.” Even if he couldn’t acknowledge Gabe being there, just the chance to see him would help. To make sure he was okay.

“Thank you.” Doctor Cho said with a slight sigh, as though she had expected an argument. Jack nodded and waited patiently as Doctor Cho unlocked the cell door and opened it, letting Jack step out. He took a deep breath before following her out of the room.

“So, what exactly are we doing?” Jack asked.

“The Secretary of Defense herself has come down to assess the situation and will be the sole person deciding your fates. This moment, how you act and what you do, will change the rest of your lives.” Doctor Cho told him seriously as she quickly walked down the hall.

“No pressure.” Jack murmured. Doctor Cho ignored him.

The room Doctor Cho led him to was not unlike an interrogation room. There was a long pane of one-way glass embedded in a wall and a table with two chairs, one on either side. Jack glanced at the glass before going to sit in the chair closest to him. He realized as he sat down that it put his back to the door and he briefly thought about switching seats before deciding that it wouldn’t matter.

“Remember what I said.” Doctor Cho reminded him before slipping back out, the door making a small _click_ as it closed. Jack kept his eyes ahead, hands folded together on the table and held perfectly still while he waited for whatever was going to happen. He didn’t have to wait long. The door opened again and Gabriel silently walked around from behind Jack to sit in the other chair. Jack’s eyes instantly flicked over Gabe, checking to see if he was okay. He looked a bit gaunt and his eyes were dull as they did the exact same check over Jack. He looked pretty bad.

Jack forced himself to unfocus his eyes and not look at Gabe. 

_Don’t acknowledge that he’s there._ He reminded himself. The instruction must have been given for a reason, even if he didn’t know what it was just then. 

It looked like Gabe was trying to keep from focusing on him as well, eyes sliding away from Jack’s face. There was awkward silence for several moments, both of them overly aware of the other’s breathing and tiny movements, before the door opened once more. Gabe’s eyes flicked to the door and narrowed almost immediately. Jack physically bit his tongue with his front teeth to keep from asking about who just joined them. The answer was given when two people came to stand on one side of the table, to the right of Jack and left of Gabe, which let them face the two-way glass and not obstruct the view of anyone on the other side. They were both women, dressed in impeccably tailored suits obviously made just for them and matching black ties. One looked like she was Native American, she had high cheekbones and a severely pristine bun tied just above her neck. The other was black, shorter than her partner and slightly chubby with a very cute, round face. The cute black woman gripped the edge of the table with both hands and flipped it with one smooth but violent motion, making Jack jump slightly. Gabe looked at her with a slight glare.

“Alright fucker let’s get this straight. I don’t like you. I don’t think you should be here.” She said angrily as she moved to stand in front of Jack. Her partner started yelling at Gabe and stood practically back-to-back with her. The other woman’s head poked out over her partner’s by several inches and Jack focused on that small detail to keep from paying much attention to the short woman shouting at him. He knew how to tune out shouting.

“You’re a damn omega. How the fuck do you expect other people to trust you to protect them?” She demanded. She went on about how he could be the cause of his squad’s death and how he had no place in the military at all, nevertheless in an exclusive program. It was quite annoying.

Gabe was experiencing something similar, the Native American woman yelling at him about him not being worth the money they spent on him for the experimental drugs, him being less than useless and a complete detriment. Suddenly he perked slightly as his attention was shifted from the woman yelling at him to the woman yelling at Jack.

“How does it work, being an omega? Do you spread your legs for _every_ alpha or just the ones you think can work you up the promotion ladder?” The woman in front of Jack asked. Gabe’s face remained perfectly impassive, though his left foot flexed inside his boot. _Do not react,_ he told himself.

“Pay attention to me, bitch.” The woman in front of Gabe growled. The scent of an angry beta with high dominance filled the air, trying to provoke Gabe. He didn’t respond. 

“Dominant alpha my ass.” She sneered, unimpressed. “I could dominate you _and_ your boy-toy in a heartbeat.” Gabe flexed his right foot. 

_Do not react_.

Gabe forced himself to think about a little café in Austin he used to visit and eat at whenever he went through the area. Everything was covered in grease and it looked like the kind of place where you would have a kidney stolen, but it was damn good. He’d have to take Jack there sometime. His little distraction was interrupted by a sharp outlet of breath and the sound of a satisfied hum.

“You _like_ being dominated, don’t you?” Gabe heard the other woman asking. Gabe could imagine with perfect clarity the carefully blank look on Jack’s face that would mask his irritation and discomfort. Gabe’s jaw clenched as the women rambled on, completely ignoring the one in front of him and listening carefully to the one in front of Jack.

“Ten to one I can dominate you better than he ever could. That’s all your little fling is about, isn’t it? The fucking. Gotta blow off some steam, huh?” Gabe heard Jack let out another sharp breath. His right hand clenched tightly. He couldn’t see what she was doing but Jack wouldn’t react like that just because of some words. “How about you spread your legs for me and sit really still? That’s what you’re good at, isn’t it? Being someone else’s little bitch and listening to what other people order you to do?” She asked with a disgustingly sweet voice.

Jack could handle the insults. He could. It was slightly alarming to have someone looking down at him with such a predatory smile as she spewed off lewd, disgusting things, but he could handle it. When she leaned in too close he breathed out a little heavier and tried not to breathe in until she moved away. When she ran a hand through his hair he pulled away. When she offered the sharp insult about his sexual worth he took it with ease. If he was being honest, he barely heard it. He was too busy listening to the Native American woman at her back.

“Fucking mutt. I can’t believe a freak of nature like you actually managed to get into this program. You can’t even control your own emotions, but you expect people to think you’re a part of the military? You’re a high school jock playing soldier and still trying to stick your dick in everything that moves and snapping at people because you think you’re better than them.” She snarled. Jack flew to his feet, startling the woman in front of him into taking a half-step back, running her back into her partner’s.

“That’s not true!” Jack shouted, the scent of pure anger radiating off of him in thick, pulsing waves that matched the pace of his rapidly beating heart.

“Sit down, omega.” The black woman snapped, apparently irritated at being ignored. _Do not...Fuck it._

“Don’t fucking talk to him like that.” Gabe snarled in response. The black woman reached for Jack and he grabbed her arm before she could touch him, twisting her out of the way and ducking between the Native American woman and Gabe just as his mate leapt to his feet. The woman grabbed Jack’s wrist and wrenched it behind his back in a painful arm hold. Jack hissed in pain. Gabe stomped on her foot, grinding his heel into her instep and making her yelp, letting go of Jack. Gabe grabbed Jack by the shoulders and looked at him with wide, concerned eyes.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Fine, just…watch it!” Jack broke off as the woman that he’d shoved away earlier took her partner’s place and swung at Gabe. Gabe ducked, bobbing to the left as Jack lashed out with one of his feet, forcing the other woman off-balance enough to give Gabe a golden opportunity to half-push-half-tackle her. She ended up pinned on the floor with him on top of her, both wrestling for the upper hand in the scuffle. Jack felt a hand on his shoulder and someone whirled him around. He caught sight of a fist pulled back to punch him squarely in the face. He flinched away from the expectation of pain, but it never came.

“Enough. Abeytu, Jennings, bring Reyes and Morrison in here.” A cool voice said. “I’ve made my decision.”

Jack and Gabe exchanged equally confused looks as the Native American woman let go of Jack’s shoulder and went to help her partner up once Gabe had gotten off of her.

“Good?” She asked. The black woman nodded and patiently allowed the other to straighten her tie and jacket lapels. It was an extremely odd sight to see them so calm after yelling at the other two for several straight minutes and just getting into a literal fistfight. Jack stepped closer to Gabe, nearly pressing their hips together as he watched them cautiously.

“I’m so sorry.” Jack muttered. Gabe raised an eyebrow.

“For what?” He asked, eyeing the women warily as they gestured for them to follow. They held the door open and Jack and Gabe stepped past the flipped table and back into the hall.

“I think I just got us kicked out. I was told to ignore you. I think it was a test, seeing if I could obey orders or something.” Jack said. Gabe grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze before letting it drop again.

“I was told the same thing. If we fucked up, we fucked up big time.” Gabe said with a small smile. Jack let out an incredulous laugh.

“How are you so calm about this?”

“I’m used to getting in trouble for other people. This is hardly the first time I’ve done something dumb.” Gabe told him confidently. Jack rolled his eyes and began to retort but was cut off by Jennings and Abeytu – neither Jack nor Gabriel had any idea which was which – stopping in front of another door.

“In here.” The Native American woman said. Gabe gave her a terse nod and didn’t hesitate in grabbing the handle. He opened the door without ceremony and stepped inside, Jack and the women following him. They’d entered into a decently sized rectangular room with faded linoleum on the floor and crisp white paint on the walls. There were a handful of people in the room, including the Cho’s and the woman any soldier could recognize as the Secretary of Defense. Jennings and Abeytu silently ghosted past them, sticking to the walls of the room and making their way to the back of the group. Jack and Gabe did not share the luxury of being ignored, all of the eyes in the room trained solely on them. Jack stood slightly taller underneath the intense scrutiny. This, he was used to. Being analyzed and assessed. Besides, if he was going to get kicked out of the military he was going to do it with as much dignity as possible.

“Mister Morrison, Mister Reyes. You two have caused me a lot of trouble.” Secretary Peters said.


	15. A Welcome Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It finally happens. Y'all get what ya want. This chapter is like all dialogue tho.

“Secretary Peters.” Gabriel said evenly. She raised an eyebrow at him and clasped her hands together behind her back.

“Mister Gabriel Reyes, twenty six years old, noted for leadership aptitude, recently reclassified as a dominant alpha in light of blood, secretion, and behavioral tests.” She said, looking at him for another moment before shifting her gaze to the man next to him.

“Mister Jack Morrison, twenty four years old, marked by several previous commanders as an incredible asset thanks to your charisma, known to work well with high dominance soldiers despite your omega status. Recently the two of you have come to the discovery that you are not only potential mates, but true mates. This conclusion is supported by pheromone compatibility as well as behavioral and physiological changes noted in both of you.” She said, looking between them and obviously measuring her next words carefully. “You have caused an incident with subject Johnson, I’m told.”

“Ma’am, that was…!” Jack interrupted. She closed her eyes and tipped her head slightly away, holding a hand up in a way that indicated she didn’t want to hear whatever Jack had to say. He held his tongue and Gabe subtly brushed on arm against his in an attempt to help him calm down.

“I’ve reviewed the footage myself, and I find that my assessment of the situation aligns closely with Commander Cho’s.” She said, acknowledging the woman at her side with a slight head nod. “The incident was unprofessional and dangerous. Not to mention your blatant disregard of orders just now in the interrogation room. _Now_ you may attempt to justify yourself to me.” She finished, giving them both an eve, expectant stare. Jack balked under the weight of her gaze and glanced at Gabe when he felt him straighten confidently.

“Ma’am, with all due respect Jack Morrison is my mate and I would do anything to protect him. Both he and my squad mates come before any standing orders I may have.” He said confidently. Secretary Peters quirked an eyebrow at him, a vague look of curiosity on her face before she looked to Jack.

“I assume it is the same for you?”

“Yes, it is.” He confirmed with a firm nod. Her neutral expression finally broke as she offered a small, toothy grin.

“Exactly what I wanted to hear.” She turned to Commander Cho and nodded once. “Project Thebes is a go. Confirm with Doctor Cho and proceed with the experiment as originally intended.” She said. Gabe and Jack exchanged a bewildered look before simultaneously turning to the woman currently handing out orders.

“Madam Secretary, I don’t understand. What does this mean for Reyes and I?” Jack asked.

“It means we’re still in the program, and that we’re tied to something larger than what we see right now.” Gabe said with slightly narrowed eyes.

“Very perceptive, Mister Reyes. You two have indeed caused me much trouble, more than you’re worth, some would say. I disagree. I see potential. I won’t tell you anything else, but I will say that you two are much more valuable together than apart.” She told them with a long look at both of them. “Jennings, Abeytu, it’s time to go.” She said. The women silently followed her as she marched out of the room, Commander Cho tight on their heels and murmuring about ‘Thebes’. Gabe didn’t care to listen any more than Jack did as they turned toward each other and moved to hug each other at the same time, holding tightly and breathing deeply.

“God, I missed you.” Gabe sighed roughly.

“I missed you, too.” Jack said, hands clutching at Gabe’s back almost desperately.

“I’ll escort you back to your room before anyone comes back. It’s just after lunch, so I’ll have food sent. I would recommend remaining in your room until tomorrow, just to be on the safe side.” Doctor Cho said. The two men pulled apart enough for Gabe to glare at her, though he grasped Jack’s hand tightly.

“You knew about all this.” He accused. She hesitated before nodding.

“Yes, I did.” She admitted. Gabe’s eyes narrowed in annoyance but after a moment he nodded tightly.

“I see.” He said. She looked like she wanted to say something else but instead nodded back and turned around, leading them out of the room.

Jack and Gabe held hands as they silently followed Doctor Cho until they recognized the area they were in and brushed past her. She didn’t say anything about it. Doctor Cho turned and started walking away, leaving the men to walk themselves back to their room without her. None of them minded.

“Can you believe she sold us out like that? She _knew_ something like that was going to happen!” Jack hissed as soon as she was out of earshot.

“It worked, though.” Gabe said, voice low. “It kept us in, even if it wasn’t the way we thought it would happen.” Jack frowned, not looking at all happy. He didn’t offer up further reply and Gabe didn’t push for one as they made their way back to their room.

The door to Katlin and Alex’s room was open, making Gabe pause and tug Jack so he would stand in the doorway with him, letting Gabe check on them for a moment.

“Black, Tully.” He said. Katelin shot up into a sitting position from where she’d been reclingin on the top bunk and Alex poked her head out from the bathroom with a grin.

“You guys are back! What happened to you? Are you okay?” Katelin exclaimed as she let herself slip off the edge of the mattress, landing gracefully on her feet next to the bottom bunk.

“Oh my god, they’re _fine_. She’s been flipping out since you guys didn’t show up to dinner the other day. Kit, too. Honestly, everyone was worried.”

“Even her.” Katelin piped. Alex scowled and threw a box at her with startling precision, nailing her in the shoulder even as the box’s contents spilled out across the floor. “You’re picking those up.” Katelin told her, pointing accusingly at the tampons cluttering their space. Alex rolled her eyes and retreated back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Despite her command, Katelin sighed and began picking up the scattered hygiene products and dropping them back in their box.

“Seriously, where were you guys?” She asked, stuffing the last of them in and absently setting them on top of their drawers. Gabe and Jack exchanged a glance and Jack shrugged. They hadn’t been told _not_ to tell anyone.

“It’s a long story.” Jack finally said. 

“Alex and I can go get the others and you can tell us all at once.” Katelin suggested. She paused and the corners of her mouth twitched downward. “Well, I can get the people that care. Thom-Ingleberg and Johnson are being total jackasses.” She told them with an angry huff. Gabe furrowed his brow.

“What do you mean?”

“Kit saw most of your fight, and so did a couple other people. We all know what happened but Johnson is trying to say that he was in the right and that Gabe shouldn’t have interfered.” She said, looking between the two of them. The bathroom door swung open again and Alex came out, flicking water off of her hands.

“Johnson even said that you may be his mate.” She added, giving a nod toward Jack.

“He _what_?” Jack exclaimed harshly. Alex shrugged and leaned against a wall, crossing her legs at the ankles.

“Just telling you what he said, dude. He said that you two were potential mates.”

“Ingleberg suggested that he challenge you.” Katelin said angrily, looking at Gabe.

“I thought you two were getting close?” Gabe asked. Katelin huffed and crossed her arms. 

“We were. Almost fucked him to blow off some steam, but as it turns out he’s got more in common with Johnson than the rest of us do. He thinks omegas and low-dominance betas shouldn’t be combatants. Says you’re a ‘liability’.” She sneered, using air quotes to accentuate her point. Jack shrugged and rolled his eyes.

“I’m used to those kind of people. It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

“It bothers me!” Katelin shouted, planting both hands on her hips. Alex nodded her agreement and Gabe felt a surge of relief at their obvious distaste for the idiotic stance on omegas.

“We’ve got lunch coming to our room soon since we missed it, if you guys want to hear what happened you can come and we’ll tell you. If anyone else wants to come, that’s cool too.” Gabe said, straightening and beginning to turn away towards his own room.

“Cool, we’ll be there in a bit.” Alex said, touching two fingers to her forehead in a mock salute. Gabe offered her a small smile and grabbed Jack’s hand before continuing down the hall. They slipped into their room and Jack sat on the bottom bunk, watching as Gabe paced in a tight circle.

“What’s up?” Jack asked. Gabe scowled.

“Johnson claimed you were potential mates.” Gabe sneered. “He either really believes that or he’s trying to turn people against me. I’m not sure which I prefer.”

“We’re true mates. It doesn’t matter what he says.” Jack said with a shrug. Gabe shot him a look.

“I’m glad one of us is so unperturbed.”

“I’m glad one of us isn’t worried about nothing.” Jack countered. Gabe frowned at him and Jack smiled. “Are you going to come over here?”

Gabe rolled his eyes, but walked over and sat by the other man, who set a hand on his thigh.

“Oh my god he _does_ stop moving. I’ve been looking for an off-switch for the past three weeks.” Jack laughed. Gabe lightly shoved his shoulder against Jack’s but couldn’t resist a small smile in return.

“Not for long, I need a shower and a change of clothes. I don’t know how long we were in there but I feel gross. I mean, seriously, they didn’t even give me a shirt.” Gabe groused unhappily. Jack smirked.

“Oh, yes, it’s such a shame. How dare they.” He said with a pleased tone that didn’t match his words.

“You should try thinking with your head instead of your dick sometime. It gets more done.” Gabe told him as he stood and walked over to their drawers. All of their laundry had been done while they were in the cells and folded on top of the dresser, leaving Gabe to sort them out and put them in the proper drawers. He grabbed a clean set and wandered into the bathroom. A second later Jack heard the sound of the shower turning on. 

Jack scooted backwards on the bed until he could lean against the wall and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to fully relax. The pent-up feeling he’d been experiencing seemed to be slowly draining out of him. He took long, deep breaths. It was much easier to relax when he was surrounded by Gabe’s scent. When he could hear him humming softly in the shower and knew he was just a few feet away, knew he was okay.

There was a knock on the door and Jack reluctantly pushed himself to his feet to answer it.

“Subject Morrison, these are the lunch trays for you and Subject Reyes.” One of the betas, the woman, said. She had two covered trays in her hands, one stacked on the other and each labeled with a name scrawled in black marker.

“Thank you.” Jack said with a bright smile as he took them from her.

“When you’re done just put the cover back on, you can hand them in at dinner.” She said.

“Great, thanks.” Jack repeated. She gave a small nod and turned, walking down the hall. Jack closed the door. He went back to the bed and sat on the edge, setting the tray labeled ‘Reyes’ to the side and popping the top off the ‘Morrison’ tray. A thick slice of meatloaf slathered in ketchup, sliced strawberries in some sort of syrup, salad, and a slice of garlic bread. Not bad.

“Who was that?” Gabe called over the sound of rushing water.

“One of the betas brought lunch.” Jack called back. If there was a response, Jack didn’t hear it. He took up the included plastic fork and began happily digging into the food. It beat the crap they’d been feeding him in the cells by a long shot. Not that it would have taken much to do that.

There was another knock on the door, harder, more insistent, and Jack groaned. Before he could move to get up again the door swung open. Alex strolled in, Kit and Liam on her heels.

“What’s up, fucker?” Alex said by way of greeting, flopping down on the bed in the small space not taken up by Jack or the extra tray.

“You had better have a good explanation for worrying me like that.” Kit demanded. “You’re almost as bad as my damn kids.”

“Good to see you.” Liam said.

“You, too. Always the calm one, huh?” Jack said with a wry grin. Liam shrugged and sat down on the floor, making himself at home.

“Don’t you ignore me!” Kit said, one hand on her hip and the other pointing at him accusingly. “You’ve been gone for almost two full days and I want a reason.”

“We’ll tell you what happened once everyone gets here.” Jack assured her. Liam frowned suddenly and his nose twitched.

“You okay?” Jack asked him, dragging his garlic bread through the remains of his meatloaf to get anything his fork missed, including copious amounts of leftover ketchup.

“Fine.” He said.

“You’re not wearing scent suppressors.” Alex noted. Jack shrugged.

“There’s no point anymore. You guys all know I’m an omega and quite frankly they’re irritating.” Jack said with a shrug. The sound of the shower stopped and a moment later Gabe came out of the bathroom with nothing but boxers on.

“Putting on a show for us, Gabriel?” Alex asked, quirking an eyebrow and smirking. He laughed.

“Yea, I don’t think so. Wanted to see what all the noise was.” He explained. The door opened again and Marianna paused in the doorway, eyes wide.

“What do you need to do to get thighs like _that_.” She asked. Gabe glanced down at his legs and smirked, using his hand to push the material up even higher to show off the thick, solid muscle.

“You know those times where you realize it’s leg day and you just really don’t want to do it?” He asked.

“Yea.” Marianna said, nodding.

“I don’t do that.” Gabe told her with a grin. She rolled her eyes and finally stepped into the room, punching his shoulder on the way to the dresser, which she jumped on top of and drew one knee to her chest, letting the other leg swing off the side. Katelin and Weiss followed her in, Katelin sitting next to Liam while Ian remained standing with Kit.

“Well, this is cozy.” Alex complained. Gabe shot her an amused look as he threw the clean clothes he didn’t use up to the top bunk and moved his tray, setting it in his lap as he sat on the bed next to Jack.

“We crammed eight super-soldiers into one room. Did you think we’d have leg room?” He asked.

“Dude, just tell us what happened.” Ian said. “The last time we saw you guys Gabe was throwing down with Johnson, dominated him, and you two walked off. That was just after dinner day before yesterday. Katelin asked Commander Cho about you guys and the Commander nearly bit her head off. Didn’t tell us jack shit.” Jack sighed and rubbed his chin, thinking of where to start.

“Well, we came back to the room and…” He glanced at Gabe out of the corner of his eye. “…talked a bit about what happened. Then Travis shows up.” There were sympathetic groans around the room and Jack’s lips twisted up in a small smile.

“Travis took us to med.” Gabe continued. “Doctor Cho was there, and they drugged us. Knocked us out.”

Together, they recounted the time they spent apart in the cells. The group was appropriately irritated at Travis’s treatment of Jack, and suspicious of Doctor Cho helping Gabe. Their fight with Secretary Peters’ security made Ian gasp but no one commented on it.

“And you’re mom’s cryptic as fuck, by the way.” Gabe told Liam. He raised his eyebrows but didn’t look startled.

“My mom?”

“You know, Liam Peters, Secretary Peters, I just assumed the stick you have up your ass was an heirloom.” Gabe said.

“If I was related to Secretary Peters I’d be a lot better off. Now get on with it.” He huffed.

“Well, she tells us we’re still in, obviously, and that we present some unique opportunity. Told Commander Cho to go ahead with ‘project Thebes’ or some shit like that. Then the good doctor escorted us part of the way back to the room and here we are.” Gabe concluded. Kit scowled and her foot started tapping rapidly.

“This is bullshit. What’s Thebes?”

“No idea.” Ian said. “And what did she mean, you guys present a unique opportunity?” He asked, brow furrowed. Jack and Gabe exchanged a glance.

“Who fucking knows? They’re thick as thieves and they met the same time we did.” Katelin said with a roll of her eyes.

“Hey, if you guys are telepathic you’d tell us, right?” Alex asked suspiciously. Jack laughed.

“We’re not telepathic. Where did that come from?”

“If I were a telepath and I’d just met another one I’d be pretty freaking stoked. I’d definitely hang out with them all the time.” Alex explained.

“We’re not telepathic.” Gabe reiterated. Alex huffed.

“That’s what I’d say, too.” She mumbled. Marianna narrowed her eyes.

“Something’s going on here. Give me a second and I’ll figure it out.” She said, slipping off the dresser and coming over to stand in front of them. She sniffed a few times, bending at the waist and leaning in so close to Jack’s face that he had to lean back slightly. A smile slowly spread across her face, betraying her satisfaction.

“What are you doing?” Gabe asked, exasperated.

“Solving the great mystery.” She announced. She straightened and whirled around, spreading her arms dramatically. “Ladies and gentlemen of the court, I present to you a conundrum. We have here two men with an inexplicable connection to one another and an unknown interest shown by high ranking military officials. What causes this, you may ask.” She continued, pacing slightly as she let her hands fall to her sides once more.

“Then tell us.” Alex pushed.

“Yea, don’t keep us hanging.” Liam added.

“I’m getting there, I’m getting there.” She said, breaking character for a moment before going back to the dramatics. “I present a twist ending, a cause so radical and unexpected that no one without experience with this cause could even guess at it.” She paused for effect before pointing directly at the pair still sitting on the bed. “These two men are not only potential mates, but true mates.” She proclaimed. Ian’s eyes widened, Alex looked at Jack in shock, Liam looked only mildly surprised.

“You didn’t _tell_ us?” Kit demanded. Katelin looked at Marianna like she just solved world hunger.

“How did you know that?” She asked.

“It wasn’t like we were purposefully keeping it from you, we just figured it out.” Gabe told Kit while Marianna glowed under Katelin’s praise.

“It’s obvious, isn’t it? They’re starting to smell more like each other. Only mates do that. Real mates, not just potential. And it started so quickly that the only explanation would be true mate status.” She said.

“We all smell like each other.” Liam said flatly.

“We’ve been living in close quarters for three weeks, of course we smell like each other.” Kit agreed.

“See, that’s where me being a true mate comes in. You get a second sense.” She said nonchalantly, waving a dismissive hand.

The eight of them sat around and chatted for a while after that, the others filling Jack and Gabe in on what happened while they were out, complaining about the injections due the next day, laughing at the stupid jokes and harsh jabs they each made. After a bit they finally cleared out with several ‘goodbye’s and ‘glad you’re back’s. They left Gabe and Jack alone in their room together.

Gabe sighed and collapsed back on the bottom bunk after shutting the door, finally popping off the top of his tray.

“God, I’m hungry.” He complained.

“You could have eaten while they were here.” Jack laughed, though he hadn’t finished his food and went back to eating as well.

“That’d be rude.” Gabe informed him before practically inhaling a bowl of red grapes.

“You eat like you haven’t had food in three days.” Jack informed him, eating at a much calmer pace.

“After those MREs? It feels like I haven’t eaten.” Gabe said.

“MREs? I wasn’t given MREs. Some crappy food, yea, but not that crappy.” Jack said with a frown. Gabe paused and cursed.

“Travis.” He hissed. Jack tsked, popping a strawberry dripping syrup into his mouth.

“He really doesn’t like us.” Jack said.

“No, he doesn’t.” Gabe agreed. “But feeding me that shit was torture.”

“They should fire him.” Jack said evenly, trying not to laugh.

“They should. I’ll put in a recommendation.” Gabe said with a laugh and a slight shake of the head.

“Seriously, how did that guy get hired?” Jack asked.

“Absolutely no idea, but I’d like to have a word with whoever hired him.” Gabe said.

“Are you done with that?” Jack asked, gesturing to Gabe’s tray. Gabe handed it over silently and Jack put the lids back on both of them, setting them aside. They were silent for a few moments before Jack spoke.

“I’m really glad you’re okay. I got worried when I didn’t hear anything about you.” He admitted. Gabe patted his thigh reassuringly and then left his hand there.

“I’m fine. We’re fine.” He said.

“I know, I just…I don’t know. I’m on edge. Something is happening that we don’t know about and I don’t like it.” Jack said with a frown. Gabe gave a small smile and rubbed one thumb in between Jack’s eyebrows, smoothing away the lines.

“You’re going to go grey in a year at this rate.” Gabe told him. Jack rolled his eyes, but didn’t move away from the touch.

“Tell that to the commander.” Jack countered. “This entire situation is messed up.” Gabe nodded, letting his hand fall down a few inches to cup Jack’s cheek.

“I know, but you have me and I won’t let anything happen to you. I swear.” He said. Jack’s expression softened and he smiled.

“Oh, I'm aware. You know you have me, too.”

“I'm aware.” He said softly just before he leaned forward and pressed his lips to Jack’s.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, ya got part of what ya want.

**Author's Note:**

> Want more of my work? Check me out at [caitninja ](http://caitninja.tumblr.com/)on Tumblr!
> 
> Want to commission a continuation of this story or something entirely new? Check out [my commission page!](http://caitninja.tumblr.com/post/166332102140/commissions%20)


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